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Polymer Surface Treatment Improves Sanitation Efficiency

Start-up company Bio-Fence has created an innovative polymer that, when added to a topcoat/paint, binds disinfectant to the surface, increasing sanitation efficiency and eliminating pathogenic bacteria.

Ofer Shoham, CEO, Bio-Fence
Ofer Shoham, CEO, Bio-Fence

An estimated 600 million people in the world—almost one in 10—fall ill after eating contaminated food, and 420,000 people die every year, according to the World Health Organization. Environmental pathogens within food production processes remain a considerable risk to food safety, with the presence of various bacteria in the production environment directly linked to the contamination of food.

Traditional sanitizers used on food production surfaces work for only a short time, so need to be reapplied regularly to the contaminated surfaces. Israeli start-up Bio-Fence has developed a breakthrough technology that acts as a topcoat layer on surfaces, prolonging the efficiency of traditional sanitizers. When the surface is sanitized with a traditional sanitation agent such as chlorine, Bio-Fence polymers within the topcoat extend the chlorine’s sanitization activity and improve its efficiency.

In an 11-week proof of concept (POC) in a hot dog peeling room, all traces of listeria spp in this highly sensitive food production environment were successfully eliminated. Despite repeated, strict cleaning and disinfection routines, the facility had previously encountered listeria spp, particularly on the production floor. Following the application of the Bio-Fence coating, listeria was eliminated from the floor surface.

Ofer Shoham, CEO of Bio-Fence and an expert in food hygiene for almost four decades, explains how the technology works.

PFW: Tell me how Bio-Fence got started as a company and what the premise is behind your technology.

Shoham: In 2018, I was approached by the Kitchen Hub, which is the largest food tech incubator in Israel. They know me for my many years of experience as a food hygiene specialist working with the Strauss Group. They presented me with a technology that was very interesting for me, because I was looking for that kind of direction as a solution.

So, we established a company at the end of 2018, and we recruited a scientific team and we started to develop the technology. I was appointed as the co-founder and CEO, and this is how we started the company. The lab is located in Jerusalem, as most of the scientists and researchers were living there.

We are now shipping the product into the market, but the company started on an idea—there was not really any product, using an organic polymer, that when you add it to a painted coating, it is able to bind and stabilize biocides on the surface. This is the heart of the technology. So it’s actually creating antimicrobial surfaces, but not using antimicrobial coating.

PFW: Explain that a bit more. What is the difference between using the Bio-Fence product as opposed to an antimicrobial coating on a plant floor?

Shoham: Most of the technology that exists today for antimicrobial coatings is based on the silver ions and other technologies which are toxic and not efficient. Our technology is quite unique. We are not creating antimicrobial coatings but creating coatings that—when you apply them on a surface and use biocides such as chloride peroxide—those biocides instead of working for five to 10 minutes, they’ll stabilize on the surface for hours, days, weeks, and even months. And by that we are creating an antimicrobial surface.

PFW: That sounds like an important distinction that food manufacturers wouldn’t necessarily understand.

Shoham: Exactly. The problem with antimicrobial coatings that has existed for centuries is that the food producers really don’t believe that it can support them with their problems because they’ve tried that, and they probably got some disappointing results. Our approach is totally different. We are using the powerful ability of ordinary disinfectant that is being used day to day in the food facilities. But instead of vanishing from the surface after a few minutes, they are staying active for a very long period of time. And by that they eliminate any presence of pathogens on those surfaces for days. This is the uniqueness of our technology.

PFW: Back up a bit and explain what the issues are that food producers are facing. What situation are you working to solve?

Shoham: I’ve been working with the food industry for so many years trying to support them to solve food safety issues around environmental pathogens like salmonella, E. coli, listeria, pseudomonas, Campylobacter—those pathogens are causing illnesses with humans who consume the food. If you look at the food industry, they’re putting so much effort into eliminating the presence of those pathogens in the food product. But the problem is that they are losing control when it comes to the environment. They have some control by using state-of-the-art equipment using processing like cooking the food or freezing it before packaging. But when it comes to the influence of the environment, they’re losing control. Those pathogens are there in the environment, and they have very limited ability to control and to eliminate that by just using cleaning and sanitation protocols.


Listen to article   In this unPACKed podcast, listen to ProFood World's Aaron Hand talk with PMMI's Sean Riley about the COVID-19 pandemic's effect on food processing facilities.

When you produce food, usually you use raw material processing and then you do some zoning where the food has been cooked or fried, and then it’s been frozen or chilled and then it’s packed. By physically separating the raw material and the processing from the heat treatment and then from the packaging you probably can eliminate most of the problem. But in that area where the food has already been cooked and is ready to be packed, this is the place where usually the contamination occurs.

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