Biofilms are complex matrices of extracellular matter that can harbor micro-organisms. Remco’s Education and Support Manager Amit Kheradia explains why adequate mechanical cleaning of contact surfaces is required to remove rigid biofilms that may allow for pathogens to survive, grow, and spread to contaminate other facility areas and food products.

1 How are biofilms different from the “free-floating” bacterial pathogens?

“Free-floating” planktonic pathogens like L. monocytogenes may secrete a slimy, extracellular polymeric substance (EPS) that can enmesh other organisms, nutrients, moisture, and foreign material to form a self-sustaining microbial biofilm community. Unlike the planktonic cells, biofilms will firmly attach to a contact surface, which makes them much harder to remove.

2 Why should food facilities be concerned about biofilm-buildup on the surfaces?

Salmonella and Listeria monocytogenes (responsible for causing about 44% of FDA food recalls) are capable of developing biofilms. With time, resident pathogenic strains may emerge in a facility that are not only difficult to eradicate, but may also persist in the environment to cross-contaminate food and surfaces for longer periods at unpredictable rates. Therefore, timely biofilm control is necessary to avoid foodborne illness outbreaks and product recalls.

3 Where can you find biofilms in a typical food production plant?

Typical spots to look out for are cracks, narrow nooks and crevices, rough welds, hollow tubes and supports, close-fitting metal-to-metal or metal-to-plastic surfaces, worn seals, gaskets, and other areas that cannot be reached during routine cleaning and sanitizing. It’s less likely biofilms will form on even, smooth, regularly cleaned, sanitized, and maintained surfaces.

4 What are some key challenges encountered when removing biofilms from surfaces?

Biofilm-enclosed microbes can be up to 3,000 times more resistant to chemicals than the free-floating cells. Moreover, a biofilm can protect pathogens from antimicrobials, heat, and radiation. They are also more difficult to detect and remove when they mature with time, or as they evolve to dry surface biofilms capable of surviving in low-moisture environments.

5 Which biofilm control strategy is most effective, and how can Remco help?

Risk-based scheduled cleaning of facility areas, fixtures, equipment, and tools is the best approach when integrated with preventive maintenance, sanitary design, hygienic practices, and zoning programs. Remco can assist companies with the right selection, storage, care, and maintenance of cleaning, sanitation and material handling tools. Moreover, we have tools, such as the Vikan UST brushes, that are capable of easy decontamination after surface biofilm removal.

Amino acids are involved in building proteins, hormones and neurotransmitters. They are vitally important for human health. Accurate labeling of foods and supplements for protein content or individual amino acids is necessary to ensure regulatory compliance. Maria Ofitserova, PhD, Senior Research Chemist at Pickering Laboratories, Inc., discusses common questions about the analysis of amino acids in different matrices.

1 How is the protein content of foods determined for labeling purposes?

For a long time, protein content was estimated based on the analysis of total nitrogen. Unfortunately, this approach is error-prone and unable to catch adulteration, which can be particularly devastating in products such as infant formula. Using analysis of individual amino acids to determine protein content is the most accurate method. It should be used whenever possible, but especially when labeling foods designed to be sole sources of nourishment or which address special dietary conditions.

2 How should the supplements industry approach testing?

Manufacturers of supplements containing proteins and individual amino acids need to test both raw materials and final products to ensure the accuracy of label claims and support industry standards throughout the supply chain. Amino acids should be analyzed by a sensitive, accurate, and robust method. Preferably one that works for wide variety of supplements, naturally derived or synthetic. Choosing the right method guarantees product quality and increases consumer confidence.

3 What are the advantages of amino acids analysis with post-column derivatization?

Amino acids analysis with Ninhydrin post-column derivatization is matrix-independent. The same simple extraction methods, without any additional clean up, and the same analytical conditions can be used for a wide variety of samples. This is especially important for complex samples analyzed without hydrolysis, such as botanicals, supplements, clinical samples, and specialized foods and drinks.

4 What other industries need to analyze amino acids?

The European Pharmacopeia mandates the post-column method for amino acids analysis. It is a method of choice in the pharmaceutical industry for monitoring production processes and quality of recombinant proteins. In addition, analysis in blood and urine samples allows doctors to diagnose and monitor numerous metabolic diseases, including inborn errors of metabolism such as Phenylketonuria and Maple Syrup Urine Disease. This testing is extremely important for every newborn child.

5 How are Pickering Laboratories’ products used in amino acids analysis?

Pickering Laboratories, Inc. manufactures post-column derivatization instruments and the full complement of consumables for amino acids analysis, including columns, reagents, eluants, and calibration standards. Our products are successfully used for the analysis of food and drinks, animal feeds, pharmaceuticals, and clinical samples. We also offer expertise in method development and validation to help our customers implement and efficiently run our methods.

Paul Barnhill, CTO and Head Engineer at Meritech explains the top methods and human considerations to account for when testing for pathogen removal. Listen to this entire discussion with Paul at: https://www.meritech.com/podcasts/qa-pathogens.

1 What are some common methods for validating a hand hygiene process?

People often use a bioluminescent oil that is rubbed onto hands, and after handwashing, a blacklight reveals leftover oil. While meant to illustrate ineffective handwashing methods, the oil-based solution doesn’t accurately reflect the behavior of pathogens. It is not able to be destroyed with an antimicrobial soap, which can result in a false sense of security if used to validate a hand-hygiene process.

2 So what is a better way to validate a handwashing process for pathogen removal?

ATP or Adenosine triphosphate is a reliable, effective method for accurately measuring the reduction in pathogen levels on hands by capturing samples of both pre- and post-hand hygiene events for direct comparison. However, it is important that when collecting samples, hands are swabbed thoroughly and in an identical fashion each time for accurate results.

3 In the lab, how are automated handwashing stations validated for certain pathogens?

We use the “Glove Juice” method, a.k.a. ASTM E1174 for bacteria and the ASTM E1838 for viruses. We always conduct pathogen-specific testing to have complete control of what is applied to the hand, obtain a baseline number, and then conduct an automated handwashing event to see what the reduction result is for that specific pathogen. We repeat this up to 10 times to yield a consistent reduction number that we can stand behind.

4 What are some human variabilities to account for when testing for pathogens?

There’s nothing consistent about humans, including our biggest organ: our skin. Age, gender, race, environment, and more can affect skin health, leading to variations in your data. When validating a hand-hygiene method for pathogen removal, it’s important to choose a broad spectrum of individuals to generate a healthy, varied data set, and then analyze the average. This way, your analysis will properly reflect the diversity seen in your facility.

5 Besides handwashing, what is something every company can do to prevent the spread of pathogens?

The best way to prevent the spread of pathogens is to overcome the variability of human behavior by establishing a culture of hygiene excellence at your facility. With a hygiene culture you’re really putting everyone from executives to production staff on a flat line of leadership and accountability when it comes to food safety and stopping the spread of pathogens with effective hygiene practices.

The coronavirus pandemic has highlighted the need for stringent hand hygiene to help prevent contamination. The food industry must also address the correct use and selection of gloves as a means of reducing cross-contamination. For a glove to effectively prevent the transmission of pathogens, it’s cleanliness, durability and barrier quality must be considered. Hi, I’m Steve Ardagh, CEO and Founder of specialist glove supplier Eagle Protect.

1 Why can single-use gloves be a food safety issue?

With over 20 years in the glove industry, I have witnessed an astonishing variation in sanitation, quality, and control in glove factories. I have visited factories manufacturing food and medical grade gloves reusing dirty “wash” water during production, and packing gloves in open-walled, filthy environments.

Having seen these unsanitary manufacturing and quality practices, we began to question whether these and other gloves could be clean, quality, and food safe.

2 How do you ensure your gloves are truly food safe?

Eagle has established independent quality control standards. In addition to conducting rigorous in-person and independent audit assessments for each of our suppliers, verifying product quality and manufacturing standards, we further verify a range of our glove quality and food safety standards by a third-party proprietary glove analysis.

3 Why is an independent analysis necessary if my gloves are FDA approved for food handling?

Glove factories supplying the U.S. food industry are not subjected to rigorous FDA monitoring or scrutiny, and few controls are required in relation to the reliability and consistency of raw material ingredients, manufacturing processes, cleanliness, and factory compliance.

In order to ensure manufacturing consistency, and that Eagle gloves adhere to the highest level of food safe performance, our independent glove analysis tests for cleanliness (microbial and fungal contaminants), chemicals and toxins, durability, and cross-contamination potential.

4 Have the results of the glove tests been surprising?

Yes! We conducted the microbial testing of 25 new and unused brands of single-use gloves to get an industry baseline. Results found pathogens specific to foodborne illnesses, food spoilage, and skin infections. These were linked to the use of polluted water sources; sewage (fecal pollution); and human and animal gut bacteria introduced into glove production environments.

These are gloves currently used in the US food and medical industries.

5 What Eagle nitrile gloves are tested? Why don’t you sell vinyl gloves anymore?

With all the scientific research highlighting the food safety and environmental issues of vinyl gloves, we could not, in good faith to our customers, continue selling these.

Our nitrile gloves, currently third-party tested, are intended for companies handling ready-to-eat foods. Cross-contamination prevention in this area is of utmost importance to our customers and the consumer, especially with the current pandemic.