The Use of Ozone as an Eco-Friendly Strategy against Microbial Biofilm in Dairy Manufacturing Plants: A Review

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.

Sanitation at the Slaughterhouse and the Hygiene of Food of Animal Origin

Nowdays, one of the most important issues is the issue of food safety. There are many problems with the control of food safety and creation of appropriate legislation that protects food of animal origin. Hygiene and sanitation should be effectively applied and should be controlled at each step during production in food processing plants. The aim of study was to evaluate the surface microorganisms in the monitored parts of the slaughterhouse before slaughter and during slaughter but also after disinfection by disinfectant Virkon S. Disinfectant was used in a 1 % concentration and applied by spraying. Virkon S was effective on all monitored surfaces except the table for organs, where were detected 2x102 colony forming units per 10 cm2 of total count of bacteria, 2x102 colony forming units per 10cm2 of coliform bacteria and 1x102 colony forming unit per 10cm2 of moulds after disinfection. The sanitation program should be thoroughly planned, actively enforced, and effectively supervised. Disinfection has its meaning since, everything that comes into contact with the raw material can contribute to outbreaks of food borne illness.

Evaluation of Salmonella Biofilm Cell Transfer from Common Food Contact Surfaces to Beef Products

Meat contamination by Salmonella enterica is a serious public health concern. Available studies have suggested that biofilm formation at processing plants and the contaminated contact surfaces might contribute to meat contamination. Since bacteria transfer from contact surfaces to food products via direct contact has been deemed as the most common transmission route that could lead to contamination, we evaluated the effect of Salmonella biofilm forming ability, contact surface materials, and beef surface tissue types on Salmonella biofilm transfer from hard surfaces to beef products. Salmonella biofilms developed on common contact surface stainless steel (S.S) and polyvinylchloride (P.V.C) were transferred consecutively via direct contacts of 30 sec each to either lean muscle or adipose tissue surfaces of 15 pieces of beef trim. Our results showed that Salmonella biofilm cells could be effectively transferred multiple times from contact surface to beef trim as enumerable Salmonella cells could be detected on most of the meat samples. Bacterial biofilm forming ability had the most significant impact (p<0.05) on transfer efficiency as the strong biofilm forming strains not only transferred higher amounts of bacteria after each contact, but also contaminated more meat samples with enumerable Salmonella cells compared to the weak biofilm formers. Contact surface materials could affect transferability as Salmonella biofilms on S.S surface appeared to transfer more efficiently compared to those on P.V.C surface. Conversely, the two types of meat surface tissues showed no significant difference (p>0.05) on biofilm transfer efficiency. Furthermore, biofilm - contacted beef trim without enumerable Salmonella cells all exhibited positive Salmonella prevalence after enrichment. Our study demonstrated the high potential of Salmonella biofilms on common contact surfaces to cause product cross contamination in meat processing plants.

Sustainable Development Goals in Mine Tailings Management: Targets and Indicators

Minerals and metals are essential to the economic and social development of our society, and they are critical to modern life. The continuous exploitation of mineral resources has led to a large amount of waste, which has a large impact on the environment. One of the main streams of wastes in mining is mine tailings, which are produced in mineral processing plants. The mining industry must enhance its contribution to achieving sustainable development by incorporating the sustainable development goals into its operations. The objective of this article is to define targets and indicators for mine tailings management to achieve the sustainable development goals, defined in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development by the United Nations. The result of this study is a collection of indicators proposed to measure the progress of mine tailings management towards sustainable development.