• Wall Street Journal, Wednesday, February 24, 2010 10:47 AM

Anjali Athavaley unveils a dirty little secret this morning: Most Americans clean their fridges only once or twice a year. Where there's dirt, there is, of course, an opportunity -- and don't think that the likes of Whirlpool, Viking Range and Sub-Zero aren't aware of it. They are offering features including "souped-up" shelves, bacteria-killing devices and better lighting to help Americans keep their iceboxes cleaner.

A new GE model, for example, will have 10 lighting sources instead of the usual three, making spills and spoiling food easier to spot. And new Whirlpool models will feature shelves with microscopic etching that cause liquids to bubble up around the perimeter instead of spilling over.

As for cleaning, Catherine Cutter, associate professor and food safety extension specialist at Penn State, cuts through the academic jargon. "It's a pain," she says. From the clinical side of the business, Debra Johnson, training manager at Merry Maids LP, observes that messes are "out of sight, out of mind when the door is closed."

Fridge marketers are also battling in-bred ignorance among consumers of the finer points of refrigerating such as what to place where. Milk doesn't belong on the door, for instance, cans of soda should not be stored in the veggie crisper, and pears and avocados must first ripen outside the box.

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