Mouse Problems

[PurdueJay]

I stored my smoker last winter with the cords and smoke generator safely in my house but the cabinet in my shed without cover the hole for the generator. I mouse got in and deposited some droppings but did no other damage. I took out all the shelves and drip trays and bowl and washed them thoroughly plus ran them through the dishwasher. Then I vacuumed out the unit and I also ran the smoker empty twice to a maximum temp of 290 for 4 hours each time. Then vacuuming out the unit again after the last time. I'm afraid to wash the unit with soap and water since it might either damage the smoker or disturb the built up layer of smoke. Any one have any thoughts. I hope to be smoking my snack Sausage this weekend for deer camp.

Jay

[beefmann]

at this point it is better to be  safe then sorry, wash it, if you  have it ,, use a  steam cleaner,, the kind that produces  steam over  hot water the high temp of the  steam will kill or  remove all or  most of the contaminates, along  with your efforts,,, give it a  good  once over to get rid of all the  contaminates from the  mouse, It is not worth risking  ones health.

[tskeeter]

For your situation, chlorine bleach is a good chemical sanitizer.  I'd wash down the cabinet, inside and out, with a bleach sanitizer solution.  According to an article from UC, Davis,  bleach should be used at concentrations of no more than 200 parts per million.  Assuming 5.25% sodium hypochlorite in the bleach (check your bottle, I've seen a couple of different levels), that translates into 1 tablespoon of bleach per gallon of water. (Stronger bleach solutions can be used if you rinse all sanitized food contact surfaces with clear water after sanitizing.) 

The process would be to wet down the smoker.  I'd plan on trying to keep the surface wet for at least 10 minutes (elapsed contact time is an element of the sanitation process).  And then I'd wipe the smoker down with clear water.  You'll sacrifice your built up smoke layer, but you'll be ensured that the smoker is sanitary (you could see the droppings, but there is also likely mouse urine on a number of surfaces).

The parts you washed in the dishwasher should be sanitary.  Dishwasher detergent contains chlorine as a sanitizing agent. 

[PurdueJay]

Thanks beefmann and tskeeter. I will be doing this. My plan is to spray down the cabinet and element with sanitizer in a spray bottle. The rinse it by spray bottle with clean water and dry up an excess water. Let the unit air dry and then run a 2 hour heat at max temp without smoke to make sure everything is dry.

Jay

[GusRobin]

The greatest risk (albeit probably small) would be exposure to the hantavirus that mice can carry. One site suggests the following:

Wear rubber or plastic gloves.
Spray urine and droppings with a disinfectant or a mixture of bleach and water. Make sure you get the urine and droppings very wet. Let it soak for 5 minutes.
Use a paper towel to wipe up the urine or droppings.
Throw the paper towel in the garbage.
Mop or sponge the area with a disinfectant or bleach solution.
Wash gloved hands with soap and water or spray a disinfectant or bleach solution on gloves before taking them off.
Wash hands with soap and warm water after taking off your gloves.

Some of it may be overkill but thought I would post anyway.

[RedJada]

 Although you baked at 290 twice witch I would think will take care of anything in there. I would probably scrub the cabinet out and start over. Re-season with a cheap fatty meat and you should be good to go. Don't take long to get the seasoned flavor back.