Cooking Oil Coating Prevents Growth of Bacteria in Food Processing Equipment

Many foods produced on an industrial scale include raw materials that are mixed in huge stainless steel machines that can then be difficult to clean.

With repeated uses and over time, the surfaces of the fixtures receive small scratches. the perfect place to hide and survive. Although the scratches on the surface may look small to the naked eye, they look like a big throat for bacteria, which measure only a few micrometers (a unit of length equal to one millionth of a meter)

Food residues and bacteria increase the risk of infection by microorganisms like Salmonella, Listeria and E. coli.

Professor Ben Hatton of the Department of Materials Science and Technology at the University of Toronto, Dalal Asker and Tarek Awad, are in a constant search for cheaper, safer and more effective ways to prevent the growth of bacteria in these machines. This will minimize the risk of cross-contamination, which can lead to foodborne illness.

The scientific team proposed a new simple solution, namely to trap a metal surface of the equipment with a thin layer of cooking oil to fill the tiny fragments, cracks and cracks, of way to create an obstacle to stopping the bacterial binding.

They found that this solution was particularly effective because it had the ability to reduce bacterial levels in industrial machines examined 1000 times. Their study was recently published in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces.

"Surfacing a stainless steel surface with daily cooking oil has proven extremely effective for bacterial eradication," said Hatton, who has collaborated with AGRI-NEO. a seeding company in Ontario, looking for a solution to a common problem in its industry. "The food oil has the ability to fill cracks, creating an artificial layer that acts as a barrier on the surface of the equipment.

This simple and cost effective alternative is based on the SLIPS principle, developed at Harvard University, to lubricate the trapped microstructures of the surface, which will then be slippery, that is, bacteria, and non-adhesive properties. 39 Olive oil and corn oil are the safest choice for cleaning the food processing equipment than the usual chemicals and disinfectants.

The huge dimensions of the machines make it difficult for them Complete disinfection: the remaining bacteria can get defenses against resistance to cleaning agents Hatton's method of filling the claws prevents bacteria from nesting in cracks and cleans virtually the surface without leaving chemical residues on the surface of stainless steel

"Contamination of food preparation equipment can affect individual health. All of this can happen even after a chemical clean-up, "Hatton said.

Hatton's research team continues to test new combinations of edible oils to increase the effectiveness of bacterial neutralization They will also explore the possibilities of using this method in developing countries to minimize bacterial contamination and improve mortality rates.