Sanitization of food-grade materials: Combined effect of an enzymatic product and two chemical sanitizers on <i>Listeria monocytogenes</i> biofilms

Serena Iannone; Francesco Blasi; Nicoletta Scaramuzza; Barbara Franceschini; Massimo Cigarini; Elettra Berni; Serena Iannone; Francesco Blasi; Nicoletta Scaramuzza; Barbara Franceschini; Massimo Cigarini; Elettra Berni

doi:10.3934/microbiol.2026018

AIMS Microbiology

2026, Volume 12, Issue 2: 422-438. doi: 10.3934/microbiol.2026018

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Research article

Sanitization of food-grade materials: Combined effect of an enzymatic product and two chemical sanitizers on Listeria monocytogenes biofilms

1.
Department of Biotechnology and Biosciences BtBs, University of Milan-Bicocca, Piazza della Scienza 2, 20126 Milan, Italy
2.
Department of Food and Drug, University of Parma, Parco Area delle Scienze 31/A, 43124 Parma, Italy
3.
Microbiological Laboratory, Stazione Sperimentale per l'Industria delle Conserve Alimentari (SSICA)—Research Foundation, Viale F. Tanara 31/A, 43121 Parma, Italy
4.
Food Safety Division, Stazione Sperimentale per l'Industria delle Conserve Alimentari (SSICA)—Research Foundation, Viale F. Tanara 31/A, 43121 Parma, Italy

Received: 04 November 2025 Revised: 04 June 2026 Accepted: 22 June 2026 Published: 30 June 2026

In industrial practice, different food-grade materials could be subjected to contamination by microorganisms that are responsible for the spoilage of foods. The chemical sanitizers used to inactivate microbes on the food-grade surfaces have proved effective on vegetative cells, but may not be successful on biofilms, thus encouraging food companies to search alternative ways to eradicate these microbes. For this reason, in this work, two commercially available chemicals based on quaternary ammonium salts (QAC) and alcohols were tested alone or in combination with an enzymatic product against seven-day-old biofilms of three Listeria monocytogenes strains on stainless steel (SS) or poly-tetra-fluoro-ethylene (PTFE). When the sanitizers were applied without any pre-treatment, with the QAC, no survivors were detected after 10 minutes at a concentration of 0.75–1.0% on SS; on PTFE, it was necessary to increase the concentration to 1.0% to obtain a total inactivation of the sessile cells for all the tested strains. The use of the alcoholic product enabled us to obtain total inactivation of the sessile cells at a concentration of 50% for contact times greater than 2.5–5 minutes on SS; on the contrary, on PTFE, it was necessary to use the undiluted sanitizer for 10 minutes for all the tested strains. When the enzymatic solution was used as a pre-treatment, the achieved logarithmic reductions were significantly higher than the ones obtained when using the sanitizing products alone: In half of the cases, this combination enabled us to obtain a total inactivation on the biofilm-forming cells.
- biofilm,
- sanitization,
- ammonium quaternary salts,
- QAC,
- ethanol,
- enzymes,
- Listeria monocytogenes
Citation: Serena Iannone, Francesco Blasi, Nicoletta Scaramuzza, Barbara Franceschini, Massimo Cigarini, Elettra Berni. Sanitization of food-grade materials: Combined effect of an enzymatic product and two chemical sanitizers on Listeria monocytogenes biofilms[J]. AIMS Microbiology, 2026, 12(2): 422-438. doi: 10.3934/microbiol.2026018

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Abstract

In industrial practice, different food-grade materials could be subjected to contamination by microorganisms that are responsible for the spoilage of foods. The chemical sanitizers used to inactivate microbes on the food-grade surfaces have proved effective on vegetative cells, but may not be successful on biofilms, thus encouraging food companies to search alternative ways to eradicate these microbes. For this reason, in this work, two commercially available chemicals based on quaternary ammonium salts (QAC) and alcohols were tested alone or in combination with an enzymatic product against seven-day-old biofilms of three Listeria monocytogenes strains on stainless steel (SS) or poly-tetra-fluoro-ethylene (PTFE). When the sanitizers were applied without any pre-treatment, with the QAC, no survivors were detected after 10 minutes at a concentration of 0.75–1.0% on SS; on PTFE, it was necessary to increase the concentration to 1.0% to obtain a total inactivation of the sessile cells for all the tested strains. The use of the alcoholic product enabled us to obtain total inactivation of the sessile cells at a concentration of 50% for contact times greater than 2.5–5 minutes on SS; on the contrary, on PTFE, it was necessary to use the undiluted sanitizer for 10 minutes for all the tested strains. When the enzymatic solution was used as a pre-treatment, the achieved logarithmic reductions were significantly higher than the ones obtained when using the sanitizing products alone: In half of the cases, this combination enabled us to obtain a total inactivation on the biofilm-forming cells.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest in this paper.

Author contributions

Serena Iannone: Execution of microbiological analyses and acquisition of data; Francesco Blasi: Microbiological software and statistical analysis; Nicoletta Scaramuzza: Execution of microbiological analyses; Massimo Cigarini: Conceptualization and review; Barbara Franceschini: Conceptualization and review; Elettra Berni: Project supervision, writing, and editing. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

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