Salmonellosis is the second most common cause of food-borne illness worldwide. Contamination of surfaces in food processing environments may result in biofilm formation with a risk of food contamination. Effective decontamination of biofilm contaminated surfaces is challenging. Using the CDC biofilm reactor, the activity of sodium hypochlorite, sodium hydroxide and benzalkonium chloride were examined against an early (48 hours) and relatively mature (168 hours) Salmonella biofilm. All 3 agents result in reduction in viable counts of Salmonella, however only sodium hydroxide resulted in eradication of the early biofilm. None of the agents achieved eradication of mature biofilm, even at 90-minutes contact time. Studies of activity of chemical disinfection against biofilm should include assessment of activity against mature biofilm. The difficulty of eradication of established Salmonella biofilm serves to emphasise the priority of preventing access of Salmonella to post-cook areas of food production facilities.
KSWFoodWorld
FoodWorld 