FSQA managers have a lot of tasks and priorities to juggle to keep production on schedule. When antibiotic-resistant biofilms are discovered, it can disrupt schedules, increase labor costs, and cause product delivery delays. Understanding what causes recurring biofilm formation and antibiotic resistance can help you take a proactive approach to prevention and help protect your brand’s reputation.  

Maintaining food safety and quality assurance (FSQA) is a demanding job, and one of the biggest challenges is combating an invisible threat of biofilm. In addition to potentially contaminating food with unwanted pathogens, biofilms can also cause premature wear and failure of equipment. As with all types of bacteria and pathogens, taking a proactive approach is the best way to avoid biofilm formation. But when a biofilm does form, it’s crucial to know how to address it.

Bacterial biofilm is a serious problem for food processing plants and, ultimately, consumers. Preventing biofilms from forming in the first place is the best possible solution, but when they do appear, targeted action is required. That’s why preparation for biofilm removal is critical in a food processing environment. Ensure your team understands what biofilms are, why they grow, and how to properly address them.

Bacteria and other pathogens are a constant challenge in many industries, especially food processing. Without treatment, these threats will continue to reproduce and can present health and safety risks to occupants and consumers, impact operational efficiency, and potentially damage the integrity of a brand. 

One of the amazing aspects of life on earth is the ability for organisms to adapt to their surroundings, sometimes through mutations that change the way they handle external threats. Although this is scientifically fascinating, from a food safety perspective, when bacteria adapt to become resistant to the chemicals used to kill them, it presents a potential health risk because it makes the sanitizing products food processors use less effective.

Contamination is essentially the introduction of an unwanted element into an environment, whether through intentional or unintentional means, with potentially negative consequences. Contaminants can include a range of substances, such as bacteria, mold, poison, drugs, disease, and more. Depending on the context, the results can be devastating, including illness and death.

Ongoing research into bacteria and how it spreads has led to the identification of an enzyme that plays a critical role in its growth. A team at the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) have been studying E. coli for the past decade in an effort to learn more about how cell walls develop during bacterial growth and division. This is important for food safety professionals because once the mechanism is better understood, it may be possible to develop technologies that inhibit it.

Cross-contamination in food processing facilities can happen in a number of ways, and not all of them are as visible as you might expect.

Bacterial resistance in the food industry is a challenge that all FSQA managers face. When microorganisms become resistant to the sanitizers that are used to remove them, the products become less effective over time.

When bacteria finds an environment where it likes to grow, it can be difficult to stop it from multiplying. This can lead to facility contamination that could cause a costly product recall or health risks for consumers.