Biofilms in Dairy Products and Dairy Processing Equipment and Control Strategies

Biofilms have been a major concern in dairy products and dairy processing equipment around the world. The economic losses due to biofilm formation on dairy processing equipment and dairy products are significant and need to be addressed. Studies have been done to explore the formation mechanism of biofilm for understanding how microorganisms and chemical components of dairy products attach onto the equipment surfaces. Additionally, researchers focused their efforts in developing novel techniques to monitor, detect the initial formation of biofilms, and their removal. Computational modeling of biofilm formation and removal has played an increasingly important role offsetting the time and cost in experimentation. Overall, this chapter summarizes the state-of-the-art formation mechanism of biofilm on dairy products and dairy processing equipment including the intrinsic and extrinsic factors affecting biofilm formation, control and detection strategies, and novel removal methods.