Biofilms of foodborne pathogenic bacteria: how important are they?
Gary A. Dykes A *A School of Agriculture and Food Sciences, University of Queensland, Keyhole Road, St Lucia, Qld 4067, Australia.
Gary Dykes is an Honorary Professor in the School of Agriculture and Food Sciences at the University of Queensland and runs his own consulting business. His research interests in survival, persistence and control of foodborne pathogenic bacteria with a focus on surface attachment and biofilm formation by Campylobacter and Salmonella. |
Microbiology Australia 43(2) 64-66 https://doi.org/10.1071/MA22020
Submitted: 29 March 2022 Accepted: 28 April 2022 Published: 17 May 2022
© 2022 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing on behalf of the ASM. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND)
Abstract
Biofilms are recognised as an important mode of life in bacteria. All species of foodborne bacterial pathogens are known to form biofilms in vitro under the right growth conditions. This fact is often extrapolated to claim that biofilms are critical to the transmission of foodborne pathogens, particularly during processing. While this may be the case little direct in situ evidence, with some exceptions, is available to confirm this. This is because there are a number of difficulties in studying pathogen biofilms in food processing facilities. The reasons for these issues are discussed by comparison to work in the medical biofilm area, and by using species such as Listeria monocytogenes and Campylobacter jejuni as examples. A range of potential solutions and avenues for future research are presented.
Keywords: biofilms, Campylobacter, foodborne pathogens, food processing, industry, in situ, Listeria, pathogenic E. coli.
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