Strategies and perspectives of developing anti-biofilm materials for improved food safety

Abstract

Foodborne diseases caused by ingesting pathogen-contaminated foods have become a significant global challenge afflicting public health. A report from the National Institute of Health found that around 80% of microbial infections were related to the generation of microbial biofilms on food-contact surfaces. Therefore, developing a universally applicable food-contact surface with an effective antibiofilm function is urgently needed. However, many antibiofilm strategies are designed for marine and medical industries, which are not fully applicable to the food area. Therefore, in this review, a comprehensive overview of the reported antibiofilm strategies originally designed for various applications is presented. According to their working mechanisms, these antibiofilm strategies were divided into "attack", "defense", and a combination of both. In addition, definitions, antibiofilm mechanisms, features, inherent limitations, and suitable application scenarios of typical antibiofilm strategies were systematically summarized, respectively, which could provide some underlying principles and perspectives to design food-contact surfaces with desirable antibiofilm functions in the future.

Keywords: Anti-biofilm; Antifouling; Antimicrobial; Biocidal; DLVO theory; Food safety; Hydrophilic; Hydrophobic.