Abstract
BACKGROUND: Cleaning and disinfection (C&D) in slaughterhouses and meat processing facilities is essential to avoid cross-contamination of the meat and thereby prevent food-borne illness and decreased shelf-life of the food product. To determine C&D efficacy, environmental monitoring should be performed. The food business operator must decide which activities to apply in their facility, which can be a challenging task. Ten slaughterhouses, six red meat and four poultry, with associated meat processing facilities participated in this interview study. The animals slaughtered in these slaughterhouses represented approximately 32% and 90% of the annual slaughter in Sweden, respectively. Quality assurance managers of the slaughterhouses were asked 27 questions using digital interviews about their C&D procedures and environmental monitoring. Additionally, the managers could freely elaborate on the difficulties and challenges related to C&D. RESULTS: Daily C&D was performed in all slaughterhouses and nine hired external cleaning companies. The same type of chemicals were used in all ten slaughterhouses, which primarily included alkaline detergents with or without chlorine for cleaning and chlorine-based agents for disinfection. The most common methods used for monitoring C&D efficacy were the sampling of surfaces by dipslides and ATP-bioluminescence, while one slaughterhouse used swabbing. Only half of the slaughterhouses based thresholds to determine if a surface was sufficiently clean on their own risk-analysis. The remaining slaughterhouses did not provide the information, or the respondent did not know. Quality assurance managers expressed difficulties in determining C&D efficacy, identified several surfaces as difficult to clean and noted reliance on externally provided hygiene thresholds. Four thematic challenges emerged in the thematic analysis: microbial composition on surfaces; efficacy of C&D procedures; competence and management; and production and competitiveness. CONCLUSIONS: Slaughterhouses face notable challenges in C&D, and environmental monitoring, including procedural deficiencies, knowledge gaps, and limited science-based guidelines. Hygiene outcomes are strongly influenced by personnel competence and management support. Limited collaboration between slaughterhouses further impedes the sharing of effective practices. Strengthened partnerships with the scientific community, improved training, risk-based monitoring, and hygienic facility design are essential to enhance C&D standards and reduce microbial contamination risks at slaughterhouses and meat processing facilities.