Antibiofilm Strategies in the Food Industry - Antibiofilm Agents: From Diagnosis to Treatment and Prevention - page 350

Antibiofilm Strategies in the Food Industry

Pilar Teixeira and Diana Rodrigues

Abstract Biofilms in food processing plants represent not only a problem to
human health but also cause economic losses by technical failure in several
systems. In fact, many foodborne outbreaks have been found to be associated
with biofilms. Biofilms may be prevented by regular cleaning and disinfection,
but this does not completely prevent biofilm formation. Besides, due to their
diversity and to the development of specialized phenotypes, it is well known that
biofilms are more resistant to cleaning and disinfection than planktonic micro-
organisms. In recent years, a considerable effort has been made in the prevention of
microbial adhesion and biofilm formation on food processing surfaces and novel
technologies have been introduced. In this context, this chapter discusses the main
conventional and emergent strategies that have been employed to prevent bacterial
adhesion to food processing surfaces and thus to efficiently maintain good hygiene
throughout the food industries.

1 Introduction

Food processing environments provide a diversity of favorable conditions for
biofilm formation such as the presence of nutrients and moisture and the inocula
of microorganisms from raw products. Hence, while totally undesirable, biofilms
are formed in all food processing surfaces such as plastic, glass, metal, wood, etc.
“Dead zones,” like cracks, corners, joints, and gaskets, are places where biofilm can
remain after cleaning. In addition, biofilms provide a protective environment, in
which exopolymeric substances (EPS) lead to a significantly higher tolerance of
biofilm cells to many stresses including disinfectants or sanitizers than to free-
floating cells or planktonic cells (Gilbert et al. 2001 ). These biofilms are potential