Why Salmonella bacteria is a near perfect killer

Researchers have said that once Salmonella bacteria get into food processing facility, and have an opportunity to form a biofilm on surfaces, it is likely to be extraordinarily difficult, if not impossible, to kill it.

Researchers from National University of Ireland, Galway conducted a study in which they attempted to kill Salmonella biofilms on a variety of hard surfaces, using three types of disinfectant.

Mary Corcoran, a researcher on the study, said that they found that it was not possible to kill the Salmonella cells using any of the three disinfectants if the biofilm was allowed to grow for seven days before the disinfectant was applied, asserting that even soaking the biofilms in disinfectant for an hour and a half failed to kill them.

The impetus for the study was a European outbreak in which 160 people in 10 countries became ill with gastroenteritis (vomiting and diarrhea) from the Agona serotype of Salmonella, says Corcoran.

That outbreak was traced to meat from a major food-processing facility.

The research has been published in the journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology.