The biofilm formation on abiotic surfaces in food and medical sectors constitutes a great public health concerns. In fact, biofilms present a persistent source for pathogens, such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus, which lead to severe infections such as foodborne and nosocomial infections. Such biofilms are also a source of material deterioration and failure. The environmental conditions, commonly met in food and medical area, seem also to enhance the biofilm formation and their resistance to disinfectant agents. In this regard, this review highlights the effect of environmental conditions on bacterial adhesion and biofilm formation on abiotic surfaces in the context of food and medical environment. It also describes the current and emergent strategies used to study the biofilm formation and its eradication. The mechanisms of biofilm resistance to commercialized disinfectants are also discussed, since this phenomenon remains unclear to date.
To compensate for their amino acid auxotrophy, lactobacilli have developed the ability to hydrolyze proteins present in their environment. This proteolytic activity not only generates the free amino acids needed by the bacteria, but also a large variety of peptides, some of which are endowed with biological activities. These so-called “bioactive peptides” (BAPs) are interesting from a nutrition and healthcare perspective. The use of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) such as lactobacilli is an effective strategy for production and valorization of new BAPs. The proteolytic activity of lactobacilli is exerted in a strain- and species-dependent manner: each species exhibits different proteinase content, leading to a large variety of proteolytic activities. This underlines the high potential of Lactobacillus strains to produce novel hydrolysates and BAPs of major interest. This review aims at discussing the potential of different Lactobacillus species to release BAPs from fermentation media and processes. Strategies used for peptide production are presented. Additionally, we propose a methodology to select the most promising Lactobacillus strains as sources of BAPs. This methodology combines conventional approaches and in silico analyses.
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