Food contamination is a major public health concern, with Salmonella Typhimurium, Escherichia coli, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa being the prominent causal agents. They often produce resistant shields in food through biofilm formation and are difficult to remove from food-contact surfaces using conventional cleaning agents. In the current study, we investigated the efficacy of flavourzyme, an industrial peptidase, in biofilm removal from ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) and rubber surfaces and compared the corresponding efficacies with those of the commonly used DNase I. We noticed a significant reduction of young (24-h-old) and mature (72-h-old) biofilms on both surfaces after treatment with flavourzyme. The overall reduction potentiality of flavourzyme was higher than that of DNase I. The flavourzyme-mediated removal of biofilms appears to be caused by the gradual disruption of amide (NH) and polysaccharide (C-O-C) stretching bands of the extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) released by the microbes. EPS elimination and the cell-friendly behavior of flavourzyme were further confirmed by field emission scanning electron microscopy. Based on these findings, we suggest that flavourzyme can reduce microbial EPS formation, thus possibly controlling microbial food contamination. This finding reveals a new opportunity for the development of a novel method for controlling foodborne illness as well as food spoilage.

食物污染是鼠伤寒沙门氏菌，大肠杆菌和铜绿假单胞菌的主要公共卫生问题。是主要的因果代理。它们通常通过生物膜形成在食物中产生抗性屏蔽，并且难以使用常规清洁剂从与食物接触的表面去除。在当前的研究中，我们研究了一种工业肽酶Flavorzyme在去除超高分子量聚乙烯（UHMWPE）和橡胶表面的生物膜中的功效，并将相应的功效与常用的DNase I进行了比较。用调味酶处理后，两个表面上的年轻生物膜（24小时）和成熟生物膜（72小时）减少。风味酶的总体还原潜力高于DNaseI。风味酶介导的生物膜去除看来是由于酰胺的逐渐破坏引起的（NH）和微生物释放的胞外聚合物（EPS）的多糖（COC）拉伸带。场发射扫描电子显微镜进一步证实了EPS的消除和风味酶的细胞友好行为。基于这些发现，我们建议风味酶可以减少微生物EPS的形成，从而可能控制微生物食品的污染。这一发现揭示了开发控制食源性疾病和食物变质的新方法的新机会。