Desinfection and resistance

If the cleaning process is not sufficiently thorough and effective, some micro-organisms may establish themselves in the production area and become difficult to get rid of. This may for example be because they have created a biofilm (insufficient washing) or that they are resistant to disinfection agents (insufficient disinfection). Some bacteria have a natural resistance to a number of disinfection agents. Spores for example are resistant to both tenside based disinfectants and ethanol so that one cannot count on these disinfection agents to eliminate them. It has been shown that bacteria from areas that are being disinfected often have a greater resistance than corresponding bacteria from other areas. This may be because disinfection brings about the selection of the most resistant bacteria or because the bacteria change their properties and become more resistant. Nofima Mat is researching into how bacteria behave and develop, why some survive washing and disinfection and what we can do to prevent the bacteria surviving. Nofima Mat has considerable knowledge about the various kinds of disinfection agents and how they work.