
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, March 3, 1990                   TAG: 9003032630
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

STORE MISTING MACHINE OK'D

Misting machines used to freshen vegetables in supermarkets were turned on again after the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta determined they did not have widespread risk to public health. The machines were turned off in January at Kroger and other supermarkets in Roanoke and across the nation after two deaths in Louisiana and a number of cases of Legionnaires' disease were tied to their use at a Winn-Dixie supermarket.

Kroger turned its machines on after a week or so when the Cincinnati company decided there was no danger from their use, said Joann Boone, an administrative assistant at the Mid-Atlantic Marketing Area in Roanoke County. Other companies also resumed using them after they received industry-wide approval, she said. Winn-Dixie said it stopped using the machines.

The disease was attributed to bacteria often occurring in misting machines with stagnant reservoirs. Kroger's machines and most of the other devices are connected directly to tap water. - Staff report

by CNB