FDA report finds 84 percent of 438 grocery store delis failed food holding safety practices

The FDA conducted unannounced, voluntary visits to 438 grocery store delis between October 2019 and December 2022. Specialists measured ten Food Code practices across four risk factors: inadequate cooking, improper holding time and temperature, contaminated equipment, and poor personal hygiene. A deli was marked out of compliance if a failure was observed even once during the average 101-minute visit.

The most significant failures were in food holding, with cold holding failing in 58.9 percent of delis and hot holding in 44.0 percent. Personal hygiene failures were driven entirely by handwashing, which was non-compliant in 61.9 percent of cases. Contaminated equipment was found in 52.7 percent of delis, including a 39.3 percent failure rate for cleaning and sanitizing food-contact surfaces.

Cooking was the most successful risk factor, with only 9.3 percent of the 344 observed delis failing. However, the report emphasizes that most deli food is ready-to-eat and does not undergo a cooking step to eliminate pathogens. This makes the high failure rates in cold holding and surface sanitization particularly dangerous for the growth of Listeria monocytogenes.

This study represents the second of three rounds in the Retail Food Risk Factor Study. The FDA will not report trends until the third round, scheduled for October 2026 through September 2027, is complete. The current data provides a snapshot of risk factors but does not test food for bacteria or link specific failures to illness outbreaks.