Microbial contamination of dairy products caused by biofilm-forming bacteria is of great concern to the dairy industry, a leading sector impacted by food loss. Previous reports have emphasized that preventing biofilm formation on work surfaces of dairy equipment would be a more desirable option than treating it. However, there is currently no available technology that could completely prevent such biofilm formation without causing detrimental side effects. Here, we demonstrate that a bioinspired approach, exploiting superhydrophobic paraffin/fluorinated wax surfaces, can be efficiently employed to prevent dairy-associated biofilm formation. Our results showed that under conditions relevant to dairy food production (continuous flow of milk in the presence of substrates relevant to the dairy industry), biofilm development by strong biofilm-forming dairy Bacillus isolates was effectively mitigated (up to 97-99% inhibition) on the tested wax surfaces. This, coupled with the ability of these wax surfaces to retain their structure and functionality after prolonged exposure to milk, without producing any negative effects on milk quality, makes the technology potentially applicable in the dairy industry.
Keywords: Bacillus species; biofilm; dairy food; milk quality; superhydrophobic surfaces.