Survivability of Salmonella Enteritidis enclosed into biofilm

It is known that some pathogens in feed production plants may exist throughout several months, even years. These strains are known as 'house strains' and the assumption is that the existence of such strains is enabled due to their ability to form biofilms. The objective of our experiment was to assess survivability of selected isolates that were previously characterized as rdar morphotype enclosed into biofilm on glass surfaces. Testing of cell viability in the biofilms was carried out in the condition of desiccation (28 days) and with periodic availability of nutrients (90 days) at ambient temperature. In both of tested conditions percent of viable cells was more than 50 % for all tested isolates. The obtained results suggest that survivability of Salmonella Enteritidis rdar morphotype cells enclosed into biofilm on glass surfaces under conditions of desiccation and periodic availability of nutrients may present a serious problem in the food and feed industry due to biofilm production, which contributes to their spreading throughout the whole facility and consequently increasing cross-contamination risks.