The promotion of biofilm dispersion: a new strategy for eliminating foodborne pathogens in the food industry

Abstract

Food safety is a critical global concern due to its direct impact on human health and overall well-being. In the food processing environment, biofilm formation by foodborne pathogens poses a significant problem as it leads to persistent and high levels of food contamination, thereby compromising the quality and safety of food. Therefore, it is imperative to effectively remove biofilms from the food processing environment to ensure food safety. Unfortunately, conventional cleaning methods fall short of adequately removing biofilms, and they may even contribute to further contamination of both equipment and food. It is necessary to develop alternative approaches that can address this challenge in food industry. One promising strategy in tackling biofilm-related issues is biofilm dispersion, which represents the final step in biofilm development. Here, we discuss the biofilm dispersion mechanism of foodborne pathogens and elucidate how biofilm dispersion can be employed to control and mitigate biofilm-related problems. By shedding light on these aspects, we aim to provide valuable insights and solutions for effectively addressing biofilm contamination issues in food industry, thus enhancing food safety and ensuring the well-being of consumers.

Keywords:

• foodborne pathogen
• control strategy
• cross-contamination
• food safety

Declaration of generative AI and AI assisted technologies in the writing process

During the revision of this work, the authors just used ChatGPT to edit the language to enhance the readability. Improved content assisted by ChatGPT accounts for about 40% of the full text. After using this service, the authors reviewed and edited the content as needed and take full responsibility for the content of the publication.

Author contributions

Yangfu Li: Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Investigation, Writing-Original Draft, Editing, Visualization. Xinmin Liang, Nuo Chen, Xiaoming Yuan and Juan Wang: Writing-original draft and revision. Qingping Wu and Yu Ding: Conceptualization, Funding acquisition, Investigation, Supervision, Writing-original draft and revision. All authors read the final manuscript and gave approval for its submission.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the funding of National Natural Science Foundation of China (32272424), Guangdong Major Project of Basic and Applied Basic Research (2020B0301030005), and Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory (2020B121201009).