diff --git a/src/main/java/com/commafeed/backend/DatabaseCleaner.java b/src/main/java/com/commafeed/backend/DatabaseCleaner.java
index f5dda910..fdb503c0 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/commafeed/backend/DatabaseCleaner.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/commafeed/backend/DatabaseCleaner.java
@@ -12,11 +12,16 @@ public class DatabaseCleaner {
 	@Inject
 	FeedEntryStatusDAO feedEntryStatusDAO;
 
-	public int cleanOlderThan(long value, TimeUnit unit) {
+	public long cleanOlderThan(long value, TimeUnit unit) {
 		Calendar cal = Calendar.getInstance();
 		cal.add(Calendar.MINUTE, -1 * (int) unit.toMinutes(value));
 
-		return feedEntryStatusDAO.delete(cal.getTime());
-
+		long total = 0;
+		int deleted = -1;
+		do {
+			deleted = feedEntryStatusDAO.delete(cal.getTime(), 100);
+			total += deleted;
+		} while (deleted != 0);
+		return total;
 	}
 }
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/commafeed/backend/dao/FeedEntryStatusDAO.java b/src/main/java/com/commafeed/backend/dao/FeedEntryStatusDAO.java
index bbb1e769..21e2972f 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/commafeed/backend/dao/FeedEntryStatusDAO.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/commafeed/backend/dao/FeedEntryStatusDAO.java
@@ -307,10 +307,30 @@ public class FeedEntryStatusDAO extends GenericDAO<FeedEntryStatus> {
 		query.setHint("javax.persistence.query.timeout", 20000);
 	}
 
-	public int delete(Date olderThan) {
-		Query query = em.createNamedQuery("EntryStatus.deleteOlderThan");
-		query.setParameter("olderThan", olderThan);
-		int deleted = query.executeUpdate();
+	public int delete(Date olderThan, int max) {
+		CriteriaQuery<Long> query = builder.createQuery(Long.class);
+		Root<FeedEntryStatus> root = query.from(getType());
+		query.select(root.get(FeedEntryStatus_.id));
+
+		Join<FeedEntryStatus, FeedEntry> entryJoin = root
+				.join(FeedEntryStatus_.entry);
+
+		Predicate p1 = builder.lessThan(entryJoin.get(FeedEntry_.inserted),
+				olderThan);
+		Predicate p2 = builder.isFalse(root.get(FeedEntryStatus_.starred));
+
+		query.where(p1, p2);
+
+		TypedQuery<Long> q = em.createQuery(query);
+		q.setMaxResults(max);
+		List<Long> ids = q.getResultList();
+
+		int deleted = 0;
+		if (ids.isEmpty() == false) {
+			Query deleteQuery = em.createNamedQuery("EntryStatus.deleteByIds");
+			deleteQuery.setParameter("ids", ids);
+			deleted = deleteQuery.executeUpdate();
+		}
 		return deleted;
 	}
 
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/commafeed/frontend/rest/resources/AdminREST.java b/src/main/java/com/commafeed/frontend/rest/resources/AdminREST.java
index 7bbe1768..ca8cc00c 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/commafeed/frontend/rest/resources/AdminREST.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/commafeed/frontend/rest/resources/AdminREST.java
@@ -194,7 +194,7 @@ public class AdminREST extends AbstractResourceREST {
 	@Path("/cleanup")
 	@GET
 	public Response cleanup() {
-		int deleted = cleaner.cleanOlderThan(30, TimeUnit.DAYS);
+		long deleted = cleaner.cleanOlderThan(30, TimeUnit.DAYS);
 		return Response.ok("ok: " + deleted).build();
 	}
 
diff --git a/src/main/resources/META-INF/orm.xml b/src/main/resources/META-INF/orm.xml
index 6d0781b3..e89099b9 100644
--- a/src/main/resources/META-INF/orm.xml
+++ b/src/main/resources/META-INF/orm.xml
@@ -9,8 +9,8 @@
 		<query>select sub.id, count(s) from FeedEntryStatus s LEFT JOIN s.subscription sub where sub.user=:user and s.read=false group by sub.id</query>
 	</named-query>
 	
-	<named-query name="EntryStatus.deleteOlderThan">
-		<query>delete from FeedEntryStatus s where s.id in (select s2.id from FeedEntryStatus s2 where s2.starred = false and s2.entry.inserted &lt; :olderThan)</query>
+	<named-query name="EntryStatus.deleteByIds">
+		<query>delete from FeedEntryStatus s where s.id in :ids</query>
 	</named-query>
 	
 </entity-mappings>
\ No newline at end of file