[Microbial biofilms in the food industry]

Biofilms are microbial communities whose architecture includes microorganisms, biotic substances produced by these microorganisms and attached organic and inorganic substances from the environment. They pose a serious problem in human medicine. Microbial biofilm communities are also cause for concern in the food industry since pathogenic microorganisms released from the biofilm may contaminate food and raw materials for food production. Not only the microbial community as a whole but also particular cells exhibit increased resistance to sanitation measures and disinfectants which makes it difficult to remove the biofilm or to inactivate particular built up microorganisms. Mainly model studies and molecular genetic and microscopy methods can contribute to better understanding of this issue, and thus to prevention and inactivation of microbial communities on food contact surfaces of equipment in the food production plants. Such studies would be of benefit to both health care and food processing and production.