The Impact of Biofilms on Food Spoilage

In nature there is a spontaneous tendency of microorganisms to attach to wet surfaces, to multiply and to embed themselves in a slimy matrix composed of extracellular polymeric substances that they themselves produce, forming a "biofilm" defined as a functional consortium of microorganisms embedded in substances and flocculates. Biofilm formation is a very complex process and there is good evidence indicating that biofilms constitute a protected mode of growth that allows microorganisms to survive in hostile environments, their physiology and behavior being significantly different from their planktonic counterparts.The elimination of biofilm from food processing facilities represents a big challenge: in the food industry, in fact, it may be a source of recalcitrant contaminations, causing food spoilage and possible sources of public health problems such as outbreaks of food-borne pathogens. This phenomenon is particularly problematic in some food industry sectors such as dairy processing, fresh produce, poultry and red meat processing, and seafood processing.The present chapter will focus on describing the mechanisms involved in biofilm formation and behavior, on deleterious effects associated with their presence, and some of the current control strategies.