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The biofilm formation on equipment surfaces in dairy manufacturing is a major concern for industry and consumers alike, which may affect the safety and quality of dairy products. In order to identify the bio-contamination risk of materials commonly used in dairy manufacturing, adhesion of Staphylococcus aureus on glass coated by two kinds of UHT milk (whole milk and skimmed milk) was investigated. It is known that adhesion is mainly governed by surface physicochemical properties, for that, the effect of milk components on physicochemical properties of glass and bacterial surfaces were exanimated through contact angle measurements. MATLAB software was used to evaluate the ability of S. aureus adhesion on glass. The hydrophobic quantitative and electron acceptor characteristics of the glass appear to increase with the presence of fat in milk, while its electron donor property decreases with this component. The percentage of occupied surface of untreated glass was more important than in treated surfaces for 50% of the strains studied. As well, the percentage of occupied surface by bacterial strains in untreated glass by skimmed milk is generally more important compared to the whole milk. Therefore, the risk of bio-contamination of untreated glass is more favorable for bacteria cultured in skimmed milk compared to these in whole milk but the bio-contamination risk on covered glass by milk is not milk dependent and is strain dependent.

To improve the start-up speed and efficiency of bioreactors, biofilm technology is sometimes used. This technology uses various types of materials to facilitate the adhesion of microorganisms. In this study, the surface characteristics of inert substrates and substrates after olive oil-mill wastewater (OMWW) conditioning film were evaluated to understand the impact of OMWW on adhesion as well as the most suitable material to optimize bacterial adhesion. Three common substrates made of different polymers were tested for bacterial adhesion before and after treatment with OMWW: PP (polypropylene), PET (Polyethylene terephthalate), and PVC (polyvinyl chloride). The surfaces’ physicochemical characteristics were studied by measuring the contact angle for the studied bacteria strain and the supports, before and after treatment with OMWW. Results of initial adhesion tests for untreated and treated supports showed differences in how bacterial cells adhered to substrates. Before treatment with OMWW, PVC and then PP showed a significant adhesion capacity, double that of PET [PVC: 1.58 × 105 CFU/cm2, PP: 1.48 × 105 CFU/cm2 and PET: 0.72 × 105 CFU/cm2]. After treatment with OMWW, initial bacterial adhesion increased by 106 (from 105 CFU/cm2 for untreated supports to 1011 CFU/cm2 for treated supports), and PET followed by PP demonstrated the highest adhesion capacity, 2 and 1.7 times more than PVC, respectively [PET: 1.39 × 1011 CFU/cm2, PP: 1.15 × 1011 CFU/cm2 and PVC: 0.67 × 1011 CFU/cm2]. OMWW conditioning film affects the physicochemical characteristics of plastic supports, especially the donor electron character, and improves the initial adhesion of bacteria to substrates (105 to 1011 CFU/cm2). Therefore, surfaces’ physicochemical characteristics were important in the initial adhesion of the bacteria onto the support before and after treatment.

This study aims to understand the relationship between capabilities of Escherichia coli strains to form biofilm and serotype groups expressed on cell surface. Sixteen strains of E. coli were originally isolated from different food processing lines in different Moroccan cities. Strains serotyped based on their O (somatic), H (flagellar), and K (capsular) surface antigen profiles using different antiserums. Biofilm assays carried out in 96-well microtiter dishes using the method of O’Toole et al. Our results show that no clear relation observed between origin and serotype groups. In the other hand, we observed that not all studied strains were able to form biofilm. Furthermore, combination of antigens H40 and K11 appears to be involved in biofilm formation. In fact, the H antigen seems to be implicated in the placement of the bacterial cells near the surface and the K antigen may play a role in physicochemical interactions between bacteria and inert surface.

The surface energy characteristics of uncoated (clean) and coated stainless steel with UHT milk at various contact time (5 min, 30 min, 1 hours, 3 hours, 6 hours, 24 hours) were determined using contact angle measurement. Whatever the contact time, the clean stainless steel coupons became more hydrophobic and more electron acceptor when they are coated by milk. Inversely, the electron donor character seems to decreasing in this condition. The calculated surface energy component of coated stainless steel was found to vary with contact time. Its hydrophobicity and its electron acceptor were minimal after 3 hours of contact, but its electron donor was minimal after 1 hours of contact. Adhesion experiments of Staphylococcus aureus were carried out on uncoated and coated stainless steels at various contact times. For all contact times, the adhesion results show that milk reduce S. aureus adhesion, and the level of this reduction depend on contact time. This reduction was lower and higher after 1 hours, 5 min and 30 min of contact respectively.