Compact Refrigerators

How do I eliminate rotten food smell from a small fridge?

A fast food hamburg got left in our small fridge at work. Now the fridge stinks to high heaven, and I don't know what to use. I tried cleaning it out with some Dawn w/Bleach dish soap and water, and we put a box of baking soda in as well, but the smell still lingers. Any suggestions?

Public Comments

1. arm and hammer
2. get rid of the fridge
3. Baking soda
4. bleach
5. you need to clean it with pure bleach. Take all the shelves and drawers out, so you are sure you get it entirely clean.
6. clean it with bleach
7. limes/ lime juice
8. I would say keep the baking soda in there, and then keep the door open for a bit. Oddly, you may want to experiment with some Febreeze and see if it kills the old bacteria. Personally, I always use Citrisolve cleaner to make my kitchen smell nice.
9. clean it with raw lemon. open several boxes of baking soda and place the open boxes in your fridge.
10. Take every thing out of the refrigerator and wipe it with baking soda and warm water. Wipe rinse and dry. You're done. Keep a box of baking soda in refrigerator to absorb odors. I may sound like a commercial, but it works.
11. Put a bowl of vinegar in the, prop the door open wide and leave it for several days until it smells better. Defrost it if you need to.
12. TRY WASHING IT AGAIN WITH SCENTED PINE SOL....
13. the best thing i found to use is vanilla essence just put some on a dry cloth and wipe the fridge out with it you might need to do it twice but it should work. make sure the cloth is damp from the essence.
14. wash with vanilla essence and leave to dry
15. take everything out of the frig get a bucket and a sponge soap water and bleach...................clean throughly add arm and hammer replace your food. Clean frig no smell;)
16. have you looked under/back of fridge? could be something there
17. Put half a cut orange into the fridge to adsorb smell
18. Some organic smells permeate the plastic and rubber parts. Give those a special scrubbing with simple green then baking soda. Unplug it and let it stand open for a few days.
19. Gojo hand cleaner has out a new product in a wipe form. The wipes smell like oranges. Empty out the fridge and wipe it down with the gojo orange wipes then take the dawn and water to it after 3 minutes and wash it down. The smell of rotten food will be gone.
20. try white vinegar wipe out with it then leave it in there, a day or two. if necessary, repeat
21. Have you tried Method products? These are NOT TESTED ON ANIMALS and environmentally friendly. They still work hard but without all the harsh chemicals. http://methodhome.com
22. Bleach works. After you bleach it put the baking soda back in and check the rest of the food. I hate it when people forget their food.
23. Do the above but add leave the fridge running empty with a large shallow bowl of generic white vinegar in it first to clear the air cycle.
24. trust me baking soda is very effective, try it
25. keep it open for 1 whole day. The next day , put a kilo of charcoal inside and keep it close. (charcoal has the ability to absorb all sorts of smell/odor)
26. Try using a solution made up of bleach & water OR vinegar & water. I use vinegar & water to clean almost everything - the vinegar smell doesn't stay as long as you might think. Besides the baking soda, other things I've heard of that soak in odors are charcoal briquets and newspaper. Maybe after cleaning real well, you could turn it off, leave open and let it air out overnight. Good luck.
27. After cleaning it (and I would not recommend bleach) I put an opened box of baking soda in the fridge and it works fine to eliminate smells. If you use a cleaning product that has warning labels about your health - don't use them to clean a fridge because it will get into your food.
28. THERE ARE A LOT OF WAYS TO DO IT BUT I'LL JUST GIVE YOU 1. I KNOW THIS MAY SOUND STRANGE BUT TURN IT ON ITS BACK AND FEEL IT UP WITH WATER AND PUT PINE SAL IN IT (LET IT SOAK), AFTER THAT RINSE IT OUT RELAY GOOD, THEN FILL IT UP AGAIN AN PUT LOTS OF LIME JUICE. RINSE. IF THAT DON'T WORK THEN THROW IT AWAY.
29. wipe it all out with vanilla essence on a cloth then put a small box in back corner of baking soda it does soak in smells or Oder's i do it to mine when i clean it out.