Ondine Biomedical has reported details of a new program that showed photodisinfection being developed for food processing destroyed almost all (99.999%) of MRSA biofilm pathogens.
Pathogens commonly found on hard surfaces in meat processing facilities, as well as those directly located on fresh-cut chicken, beef, and pork meat were all eliminated by its process, Ondine said.
Conducted in collaboration with Chinook Contract Research and funded by the Canadian government, Ondine’s program identified four food-safe photosensitizers - compounds which eliminate pathogens when exposed to a specific wavelength of light.
The photosensitizers were screened against the bacterial organisms Salmonella enterica (Salmonella) and MRSA (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus), grown and tested as biofilms.
Dr. Joe Ross, senior scientist at Chinook Contract Research, said: "For our optimized photosensitized light combinations against MRSA we were seeing upwards of 5-log10 reduction, 99.999% order reduction, as well as maximum kill of Salmonella enterica, meaning that we could not detect any of the biofilm after photodisinfection.
“These results show that photodisinfection is already in the same ballpark for efficacy as chemical disinfectants like bleach or hydrogen peroxide, and it is meeting the minimum reduction thresholds for both food and non-food contact surfaces."
Over 400,000 people globally die each year from eating contaminated food.