Coronavirus Changes Sanitation Standards In-Store

It all started inauspiciously with regular reminders to wash your hands more frequently for 20 seconds while singing cutesy songs to help with timing. Then it all took a drastic turn once the cases of COVID-19, commonly known as the coronavirus, began to mount. While hand-washing is still critical, grocers have entered a brave new world of sanitation in order to keep their employees and customers safe from the coronavirus.

Stocks of hand sanitizer and other disinfectant products that customers regularly use to keep themselves germ-free are selling out as quickly as stores can place them on the shelves. Meanwhile, manufacturers are finding themselves in a bit of a conundrum: having to ramp up production while still maintaining social distancing to keep employees healthy and on the job.

“While considering employee safety as a top priority, our manufacturing partners have added evening and weekend shifts to ramp up production in an effort to meet consumer demand,” says Stew Lawrence, CEO of CleanWell, Denver. The company is committed to producing as much of its hand sanitizers, soaps and disinfectants as possible, he says, even though he is unsure what demand will continue to be like as the pandemic lessens.

However, once the product is manufactured, the process isn’t complete. “There are several quality control steps that need to occur before we are able to release to the public, and that can take up to five days before the product is shipped to the warehouse,” Lawrence says, which accounts for part of the reason why some consumers have yet to see new products on store shelves.

Amid the pandemic, consumers are relying on grocers to step up and provide cleaner facilities than perhaps they ever have before, because any touchpoint now becomes a possible way to spread the disease.

Send in the Clean Teams

Retailers such as Kroger, Tops Markets and H-E-B have created “clean teams,” staff members who are solely dedicated to wiping down touchpoints throughout the store, implementing stricter sanitation protocols and ensuring that customers maintain social distancing. Kroger’s expanded security team is now charged with enforcing social distancing protocols within the store, and H-E-B’s COVID Action Managers do the same, as well as maintain the new sanitation measures recommended by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Many grocers, such as DeCicco & Sons, are adding extra layers of sanitation. “We have an OSHA [Occupational Safety and Health Administration]-approved licensed contractor sanitizing the stores every night on top of our own sanitation, so we have two levels of sanitizing and cleaning and an extra layer of insurance by an outside contractor,” says John DeCicco Jr., chief financial officer and CEO of DeCicco & Sons, which has eight stores in Westchester County, N.Y. “The contractors also have food-safe sanitizing misters/foggers going seven nights a week at all the stores. Then we have our own maintenance employees using gas-powered air sanitizer sprayers to do the outsides of the stores and entrance areas at night.”      

Metcalfe’s Markets, with three stores in the Madison, Wis., area, also has stepped up its sanitation. In response to the pandemic, the grocer purchased Clorox Total 360 electrostatic sprayer systems for each of the stores. “It’s an electric static type of process that charges the chemical so that it has both positive and negative properties to it,” says Tim Metcalfe, president of Metcalfe Markets. “Then what happens is when you spray it, it goes around the surfaces. So when you spray a cart, not only does it get the surface in front of you that you’re spraying, but it turns the corner because it’s electrically charged and is attracted to everything.”

As of press time, the machines had yet to be delivered to the stores, so in the meantime, the cleaning team was using hospital-grade cleaner to wipe down all surfaces, including carts after each use.

Sanitation Checklist

In addition to sanitizing the carts after each use, which has become standard procedure for most retailers, Metcalfe’s dedicated cleaning crews “have their own checklist of things to clean, from phones to cooler handles to frequently touched areas,” Metcalfe says. “Every department has their own list, and then we have people that go around and verify and make sure that all that stuff is being done.” Everything is wiped down every two hours.

While DeCicco & Sons hands out gloves to every customer, Metcalfe’s Market has issued them only to employees. Since they aren’t food-grade gloves, employees don’t have to be vigilant about changing them, but it is for their safety.

“We told them that these gloves are for … self-protection, but that’s almost like a small part of it. The big part of it is a reminder to not touch your face, because that’s how this disease travels,” Metcalfe says. “If you don’t touch your face, you are safer. You can perform your duties. You can be here, but you have to be safe.”

As for when the pandemic eases? These sanitation measures may just be the “new normal.”

“I think the era of enhanced sanitation is here to stay,” Metcalfe says. “I can see stores upping what they do to protect employees and customers. And, quite frankly, I think there might even be a competitive advantage in it if your customers know that this is what you do.”