Supported by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), a recent study from Penn State University researchers has demonstrated the protection that multispecies biofilms provide to Listeria monocytogenesagainst sanitizers. The findings could inform more effective sanitation procedures in food processing environments.
Specifically, the researchers sought to determine the effect of selected environmental microbiota on biofilm formation and tolerance of L. monocytogenes to the sanitizer benzalkonium chloride in formed biofilms. The studied microbiota included bacterial families previously shown to co-occur with L. monocytogenes in tree fruit packing facilities, including Pseudomonadaceae, Xanthomonadaceae, Microbacteriaceae, and Flavobacteriaceae.