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Keeping screens clean of pathogens unseen: A challenge for self-service age

Bacteria found on McDonald's U.K. touchscreens have raised concerns about kiosk sanitation, presenting what many consider to be the first public health issue for self-order kiosks.

Photo: https://depositphotos.com

December 5, 2018 by Elliot Maras — Editor, Kiosk Marketplace & Vending Times

Last week's U.K.-based news story about bacteria-ridden kiosk screens at eight U.K. McDonald's locations has raised substantial concerns across both the restaurant and kiosk industries just months after QSR giant, McDonald's introduced the self-ordering stations. Sister website, Kiosk Marketplace, spoke to players in the industry that provides the self-service ordering units to foodservice and found that the news was prompting players across the kiosk industry to look into current and best practices when it comes to ongoing restaurant kiosk sanitation .practices.

In the U.S., the refreshment services company, Bernick's, operates more than 70 micro-market kiosks in the Twin Cities area of Minnesota. Bernick's Director of Vending Reed Stevens said the news about the micro-organisms —like listeria and staphylococcus —found on those London-area McDonald's kiosk screens is creating a stir across his business. 

"This report is something that's going to open eyes for a number of people," Stevens told Kiosk Marketplace.

In fact, after seeing the report, Stevens decided to have his company's service representatives clean self-checkout kiosks with disinfectants every time they visit a location. The service representatives had been cleaning the kiosks, he said, but were not using a disinfectant. While Bernick's has been operating micro market kiosks for several years, Stevens said he was not made aware of any need to apply a disinfectant.

"There are all these kiosks that people touch all the time. The awareness around (what) the sanitation looks like is really important."                           

-Crystal Swanson, CSA Service Solutions

Chuck Lewis, vice president of Palmer Digital Group, has been active with different manufacturers deploying self-order kiosks and menu boards for restaurants for several years, but he was not previously aware of bacteria concerns. He pointed out that self-order kiosks are new to QSRs, and the bacteria is an issue that needs to be addressed. He believes daily cleaning should be a sufficient solution.

Sanitation practices already exist for health care kiosks, and they are being applied to some foodservice kiosks, said Crystyl Swanson, vice president of sales and marketing at CSA Service Solutions, which provides preventative maintenance services for kiosks. Swanson said federal regulations specify cleanliness guidelines for hospital kiosks, such as check-in kiosks. 

CSA Service Solutions does not have any QSR clients at the present time, Swanson said, but the company does clean Reis & Irvy's self-serve frozen yogurt and ice cream kiosks on a nationwide basis. The kiosks have order touchscreens.

"It's extremely important to have some type of preventative maintenance procedures in place," Swanson said, especially for food distribution.

Swanson said sanitation is a critical issue for all types of customer-facing kiosks, not just health care and foodservice. "There are all these kiosks that people touch all the time," Swanson said. "The awareness around (what) the sanitation looks like is really important."

NSF International, an independent organization that tests, audits, certifies, trains and consults for the food, water, health science, sustainability and consumer product sectors, does not currently have any sanitation standards for customer-facing kiosks in a foodservice environment, according to Audra Bildeaux, the organization's senior business development manager for food.

Bildeaux told Kiosk Marketplace there is a standard for cleaners for consumer devices such as smartphones and tablets, but not kiosks. The organization's standards are voluntary.

In a presentation at this year's National Restaurant Show, Bildeaux said new sanitation standards will be needed to protect the safety of consumers and foodservice employees as new types of equipment are introduced to the foodservice environment.

Hazel Crest, Illinois-based Advocate South Surburban Hospital  maintains a website that said that infectious disease specialist, Dr. Brian Yu stated that the risk of catching an illness from fecal matter from the "everyday" environment is low. He said the best defense is for people to practice proper hygiene.

One study found one in six cell phones are contaminated with fecal matter, while other research has noted similar issues with baby toys and cribs, computer keyboards, toothbrushes and a large number of other everyday items.

Editor's note: A previous version of this story appeared on sister site, Kiosk Marketplace. 

Photo: iStock

About Elliot Maras

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Elliot Maras is the editor of Kiosk Marketplace and Vending Times. He brings three decades covering unattended retail and commercial foodservice.