Abstract
Managing spoilage and pathogenic bacteria contaminations represents a major challenge for the food industry, especially for the dairy sector. Biofilms formed by these microorganisms in food processing environment continue to pose concerns to food manufacturers as they may impact both the safety and quality of processed foods. Bacteria inside biofilm can survive in harsh environmental conditions and represent a source of repeated food contamination in dairy manufacturing plants. Among the novel approaches proposed to control biofilm in food processing plants, the ozone treatment, in aqueous or gaseous form, may represent one of the most promising techniques due to its antimicrobial action and low environmental impact. The antimicrobial effectiveness of ozone has been well documented on a wide variety of microorganisms in planktonic forms, whereas little data on the efficacy of ozone treatment against microbial biofilms are available. In addition, ozone is recognized as an eco-friendly technology since it does not leave harmful residuals in food products or on contact surfaces. Thus, this review intends to present an overview of the current state of knowledge on the possible use of ozone as an antimicrobial agent against the most common spoilage and pathogenic microorganisms, usually organized in biofilm, in dairy manufacturing plants.
Highlights
The management of microbial contamination in the food chain is the main goal of the modern food industry
Considering the concerns for the microbial contamination and biofilms formed by spoilage or pathogenic bacteria and the high cost of managing these issues in processing plants, the identification of novel strategies represents one of the most critical challenges that the modern food industry will face in the following years
Biofilms were mainly composed of different lactic acid bacteria, Gram-positive catalase positive bacteria and yeast, while they were not contaminated by Salmonella, L. monocytogenes or S. aureus
Summary
The management of microbial contamination in the food chain is the main goal of the modern food industry. Considering the concerns for the microbial contamination and biofilms formed by spoilage or pathogenic bacteria and the high cost of managing these issues in processing plants, the identification of novel strategies represents one of the most critical challenges that the modern food industry will face in the following years. Several innovative strategies, such as the use of antimicrobial peptides, bacteriophages, bacteriocins, essential oils, hydrostatic pressure, cold plasma, hot steam, and ultrasonication, have been proposed to prevent and control microbial contamination in food environments [1,14,15,16,17] Among these new methods, ozone (O3 ) seems to be a promising tool to prevent microbial contamination by spoilage or pathogenic bacteria. This review intends to provide an overview of the current state of knowledge on the possible use of ozone as an antimicrobial agent against the most common spoilage and pathogenic microorganisms, usually organized in biofilm, in dairy manufacturing plants
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