PARTNERSHIP: INVESTIGATING SANITATION SOLUTIONS TO CRONOBACTER SAKAZAKII, LISTERIA MONOCYTOGENES, AND SALMONELLA ENTERICA DRY BIOFILMS

While significant work has been done to understand biofilm formation of foodborne pathogens and their role in cross-contamination to foods, there is limited peer reviewed work on dry surface biofilms in low-moisture food environments, their stress tolerance, and vetted strategies for their elimination. Standard sanitation strategies for these dry environments may not be sufficient to eliminate dry surface biofilms. We hypothesize that C. sakazakii persists in DSB and the presence of other organisms (e.g., P. aeruginosa) enhances its survivability. We further hypothesize that current sanitation practices in LMF environments may not be sufficient to eliminate persistent pathogens within DSB models. The overall goal of this proposal is to understand foodborne pathogen survival in DSB and to determine if current sanitation practices control these particularly difficult contamination challenges or if new strategies are warranted.Objectives:Develop in vitro mono- and multi-species DSB models of C. sakazakii in combination with S. enterica serovar Typhimurium, L. monocytogenes, and P. aeruginosaEvaluate current LMF sanitation efficacy against mono- and multi-species DSBCharacterize three-dimensional structural and gene expression profiles of DSB models to refine sanitation strategies