title: Biofilm retention on surfaces with variable roughness and hydrophobicity.
abstract: Biofilms on food processing equipment cause food spoilage and pose a hazard to consumers. The bacterial community on steel surfaces in a butcher's shop was characterized, and bacteria representative of this community enriched from minced pork were used to study biofilm retention. Stainless steel (SS) was compared to two novel nanostructured sol-gel coatings with differing hydrophobicity. Surfaces were characterized with respect to roughness, hydrophobicity, protein adsorption, biofilm retention, and community composition of the retained bacteria. Fewer bacteria were retained on the sol-gel coated surfaces compared to the rougher SS. However, the two sol-gel coatings did not differ in either protein adsorption, biofilm retention, or microbial community composition. When polished to a roughness similar to sol-gel, the SS was colonized by the same amount of bacteria as the sol-gel, but the bacterial community contained fewer Pseudomonas cells. In conclusion, biofilm retention was affected more by surface roughness than chemical composition under the condition described in this study.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, Aarhus University, Denmark.
authors.forename: Lone
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.forename: Saju
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pillai
authors.forename: Niels Peter
authors.initials: NP
authors.lastname: Revsbech
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Schramm
authors.forename: Claus
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Bischoff
authors.forename: Rikke Louise
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Meyer
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001419:Bacteria / Q000145:classification / Q000302:isolation & purification; D001422:Bacterial Adhesion; D018407:Bacterial Physiological Phenomena; D018441:Biofilms; D005511:Food Handling; D057927:Hydrophobic and Hydrophilic Interactions; D008460:Meat / Q000382:microbiology*; D018625:Microscopy, Atomic Force; D008856:Microscopy, Fluorescence; D049329:Nanostructures; D010802:Phylogeny; D011506:Proteins / Q000737:chemistry; D013193:Stainless Steel / Q000032:analysis*; D013499:Surface Properties; D013552:Swine
chemical_list: D011506:Proteins; D013193:Stainless Steel