ABSTRACT
One of the challenges that face food processors and the sanitation team is the formation of biofilms on food equipment surfaces. Food manufacturing plants have recognized this potential hazard related to sanitation and that biofilms can have a profound impact on the safety and quality of their products. Their formation has the potential to contaminate product through the introduction of pathogenic microorganisms or spoilage bacteria. A biofilm has been described as a “metabolically active matrix of cells and extracellular compounds” [1] or as “matrix enclosed bacterial populations adherent to each other and/or to surfaces or interfaces” [2]. They may contain spoilage bacteria such as
Pseudomonas fragi, Enterococcus spp
., and
Pseudomonas flourescens,
as well as pathogens such as
Listeria monocytogenes
,
Staph aureus, E. coli
O157:H7, or
Salmonella
[3]. They are difficult to remove as they are resistant to normal sanitation procedures, and they can result in other detrimental process effects. Even when a food surface appears to be clean, the presence of biofilms is a potential hazard that must be eliminated and prevented from reoccurring. Before this can be done, it is important to understand more about what a biofilm is and how it is formed.
