Biofilms: a reccurent issue in food industries

Biofilms is a complex structure of microorganism enclosed an extracellular polymeric substances (EPS). Several studies have demonstrated the presence of biofilms in different ecosystem such as food industry, for example in brewing, dairy processing, fresh produce, poultry processing and red meat processing. Biofilms are considered as a source of microbial contamination leading to food spoilage, shelf life reduction, and are also considered as a potential way of pathogen transmission. It is estimated that 60% of food-borne infections occurred as a result of microbial transfer from equipment surfaces to processed foods

Conventional sanitizing methods seems to be inefficient against biofilms and moreover increases resistance to antimicrobial products. Nevertheless, the limitation of CIP procedures still is the residual microorganisms on the equipment surfaces, resulting in biofilm formation. Biofilms have been reported as possessing resistance towards antimicrobials that are 100–1000 times more than equivalent populations of free-floating counterparts. The CIP regime provided significant variation in reducing the viable cell numbers. The increased biofilm resistance to conventional treatments enhances the need to develop new control strategies.

New strategies has been proposed to eliminate biofilms by using enzymes, phages or bioregulation. The use of enzyme-based detergents as biocleaners, also known as ‘‘green chemicals’’, can serve as a viable option to overcome the biofilm in the food industry. Enzymes and detergents have been used as synergists to improve disinfectant efficacy. Formulations containing several different enzymes seem to be fundamental for a successful biofilm control strategy.

This presentation will give an overview about the consequences of biofilms in food industries and some tools to detect their presence. Finally, some case studies will illustrate the power of enzymes strategies to eradicate the biofilms in a food process.