Biofilms in the Food Industry: Health Aspects and Control Methods

Abstract

Diverse microorganisms are able to grow on food matrixes and along food industry infrastructures. This growth may give rise to biofilms. This review summarizes, on the one hand, the current knowledge regarding the main bacterial species responsible for initial colonization, maturation and dispersal of food industry biofilms, as well as their associated health issues in dairy products, ready-to-eat foods and other food matrixes. These human pathogens include Bacillus cereus (which secretes toxins that can cause diarrhea and vomiting symptoms), Escherichia coli (which may include enterotoxigenic and even enterohemorrhagic strains), Listeria monocytogenes (a ubiquitous species in soil and water that can lead to abortion in pregnant women and other serious complications in children and the elderly), Salmonella enterica (which, when contaminating a food pipeline biofilm, may induce massive outbreaks and even death in children and elderly), and Staphylococcus aureus (known for its numerous enteric toxins). On the other hand, this review describes the currently available biofilm prevention and disruption methods in food factories, including steel surface modifications (such as nanoparticles with different metal oxides, nanocomposites, antimicrobial polymers, hydrogels or liposomes), cell-signaling inhibition strategies (such as lactic and citric acids), chemical treatments (such as ozone, quaternary ammonium compounds, NaOCl and other sanitizers), enzymatic disruption strategies (such as cellulases, proteases, glycosidases and DNAses), non-thermal plasma treatments, the use of bacteriophages (such as P100), bacteriocins (such us nisin), biosurfactants (such as lichenysin or surfactin) and plant essential oils (such as citral- or carvacrol-containing oils).

Microbial biosurfactants: current trends and applications in agricultural and biomedical industries

“…The antiadhesive activity of biosurfactants is also an important property particularly if you are seeking to prevent biofilm formation (Galié et al . ). Biofilm formation plays a key role in the survival of both pathogenic (Kumar et al .…”

Role of Bacillus species in biofilm persistence and emerging antibiofilm strategies in the dairy industry

“…EPS may provide exceptional structural support for the biofilm and constitute the immediate environment of biofilm cells. Biofilms are virtually ubiquitous and are found in many habitats, including the dairy processing environment . In the dairy environment, biofilms can be found on practically all types of product contact surfaces, from milk cups on a dairy farm to heat exchangers in a processing plant .…”

“…Biofilms are virtually ubiquitous and are found in many habitats, including the dairy processing environment. 4,30 In the dairy environment, biofilms can be found on practically all types of product contact surfaces, from milk cups on a dairy farm to heat exchangers in a processing plant. 19,28,31 It has also been shown that bacteria could form floating biofilms such as pellicles and biofilm bundles during growth within milk.…”

Discovery and characterization of a Gram-positive Pel polysaccharide biosynthetic gene cluster

“…Bacteria growing as a biofilm are more tolerant of the presence of toxic compounds [1, 2] and predation by protists [3, 4], and exhibit increased persistence during infection due to antimicrobial tolerance [5, 6] and the ability to evade the host immune response [7, 8]. As a result, biofilm formation is linked not only to chronic bacterial infection in humans [9] [10], and plants and animals of economic importance [11–13], but also to the contamination of industrial facilities involved in processing food [14, 15], and pulp and paper [16].…”