Busting biofilms
- Project No: 2025F3715R
- Lead Researcher(s): Kim Stanford (University of Lethbridge)
- Collaborators: Xianqin Yang (Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada); Claudia Navarez Bravo (University of Manitoba)
- Year Started: 2025
Background
The food safety procedures used in Canadian processing plants are quite effective. Several steps are used to ensure that beef leaving processing is safe for consumers (although proper cooking temperatures and times should always be observed!). But some bacteria that can cause illness, like E. coli, have the ability to form biofilms. Biofilms are essentially a protective “shell” that can make in-plant safeguards, like sanitization and heat, less effective at killing bacteria. Once biofilms form, they can be difficult to detect or remove. Bacteria communicate with each other using quorum sensing (essentially the release of various chemical signaling molecules) to form biofilms. This project will attempt to disrupt that process, preventing the formation of biofilms in the first place.
Objectives
The objectives of this project are to:
- Identify mixtures of Shiga toxin producing E. coli (STEC) and other bacteria found on meat processing surfaces that form extremely strong biofilms.
- Evaluate non-toxic quorum sensing inhibiters (QSI) for their ability to disrupt biofilm formation.
- Evaluate the impact of a biofilm-inhibiting non-pathogenic bacteria on the efficacy of QSI.
- Compare gene expression of STEC before and after exposure to increasing concentrations of different QSIs.
- Evaluate the efficacy of different surfactants to deliver QSI to conveyor belts and stainless steel surfaces.
- Assess the effectiveness of pulsed electric field to disrupt biofilms on conveyor belt surfaces.
Implications of the Research
Biofilms have been linked to periods of higher than expected STEC contamination in processing plants, which poses a food safety risk as well as economic consequences at the processor. If biofilm formation can be reliably prevented, food processors will have an additional tool to continue to ensure the safety of Canadian beef products.
This project is also supported by the Beef Cattle Research Council and Results Driven Agriculture Research
