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Friday, October 24, 2025

Biofilms – The hidden menace


The cleanliness of the power is the #1 prerequisite to safeguarding the hen merchandise’ security. Meals security smart, cleanliness doesn’t merely imply maintaining the plant visibly clear, although! To be efficient the sanitation should search each plant’s nook and cranny for biofilms, a hidden menace that if not correctly tackled can simply compromise the merchandise’ security but the plant appears to be like brilliant and shinning!

“Expertise wins video games, however teamwork and intelligence wins championships.” 
(Michael Jordan, American ex-basketball star participant)

Eng. Fabio G. Nunes 
Poultry Processing Guide, Brazil
fabio.g.nunes@hotmail.com

Biofilms indicate main challenges for the poultry trade as a result of they permit micro organism and pathogens to bind to a spread of surfaces generally discovered all through the plant – drains, flooring, ceiling, pipelines, tough welds, areas of poor accessibility to sanitation, rubber, polypropylene, plastic, and the underside of the surfaces, amongst others – and assist their survival, development, and dissemination all through the power. 

Pathogens harbored within the biofilms will be simply transported, through employees circulation, air, moisture, and gear, from the processing surroundings to the meals contact surfaces after which to the hen merchandise, thus posing a major threat to customerswell being. By the use of instance, 80% of bacterial infections within the USA are believed to be associated particularly to food-borne pathogens in biofilms present at meals vegetation.

But biofilms range in complexity, they don’t differ a lot in composition, being about 98% to 99% water and 1% to 2% a fancy mixture of distinct microorganisms, like staphylococci, coliforms, listeria, and pseudomonads, amongst others. Biofilm formation and growth is a 4-step course of – free-floating micro organism attachment, microcolony formation, maturation, and dispersal – that is dependent upon a set of assets and situations to succeed: simultaneous presence of microorganisms, vitamins, and water, a floor to anchor, optimum temperature and oxygen degree, and time. 

If such a various surroundings is left untouched over time, the inhabitants of microorganisms produce an extracellular polymeric substance – EPS, aka slime, composed of polysaccharides, glycoproteins, and nucleic acids which works as a coating. This slimy coating whereas anchors the microorganisms to the floor they’re involved with, additionally helps defending them from the environmental stresses and the chemical substances routinely used within the sanitation. Based on authors, the microorganisms sheltered within the biofilm will be as much as 3,000 occasions extra immune to hypochlorous acid than the free cells. 

One of the best technique to manage the biofilm formation is prevention, which should be regarded as early because the conceiving of the plant. Plant should be designed with hygienic zoning idea in thoughts as to restrict the longer term transference of microorganisms among the many rooms, notably between filth and clear areas, as soon as in operation. 

The collection of ceiling, walling, and flooring supplies should create a regulation-complying surroundings that outcomes, on the identical time, resistant and sturdy, straightforward to scrub and preserve, and don’t favor water ponding or natural matter buildup wherever. Drainage is probably going a essential issue for any poultry processing facility. Subsequently, design, ease of cleansing, sturdiness and set up are points to bear in mind upon choosing the drainage answer to restrict the biofilms from construct up over time. 

The machines should adjust to the hygienic design necessities, to forestall natural particles buildup and bacterial attachment, and be straightforward to sanitize. Furthermore, they should be possible straightforward to bear a periodic deep cleansing, the place gear is stripped down earlier than cleansing and sanitizing, an suggested strategy to scale back the danger of biofilm formation.

Essentially the most adopted technique for controlling biofilms every day is sanitation, which mixes detergents, disinfectants and instruments, and must be run at a frequency that forestalls biofilms from reaching their maturity. To be efficient, the sanitation should be based mostly on the risk-assessment of every space, requires a talented workforce outfitted with correct and adequate assets, and should be aided by effectiveness-verification strategies. Handbook cleansing procedures are an essential complement to the aforementioned measures. Authors says that after the biofilm is already fashioned, mechanical motion and scrubbing are one of many foremost actions for its elimination or management because the friction results in the matrix disruption, exposing deeper layers and making the microorganisms extra accessible to detergents and sanitizers. Typically, disinfectants don’t penetrate the biofilmsmatrix after an inefficient cleansing process and, subsequently, don’t destroy all of the biofilm cells reaching solely the outer layers.

Literature obtainable from writer upon request

 

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