Foodborne Microorganisms and Biofilms

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to invite you to contribute to this Special Issue of Microorganisms on Foodborne Microorganisms and Biofilms.

Foodborne microbial biofilm is a serious concern in the food industry. Biofilm formation is a dynamic multi-step process where microbial motility, extracellular polymeric substance (EPS) production, and quorum sensing (QS) systems play an important role. Biofilms are difficult to eradicate because cells in biofilms are more tolerant to antimicrobial agents and less sensitive to environmental stresses than their planktonic counterparts. In addition to representing a constant source of contamination in the food industry, and thus compromising food safety and quality, microbial biofilms can cause damage to equipment. Both chemical and physical strategies are commonly used to control microbial biofilms in the food industry. Nevertheless, to overcome the drawbacks of anti-biofilm conventional strategies, such as induced tolerance or spreading of surviving microorganisms, new strategies are being developed, including the use of natural and eco-friendly agents.

This Special Issue aims to report recent findings and advances on the following topics, including but not limited to:

• Study of the factors contributing to biofilm formation by microorganisms of food interest.
• Quality and health aspects associated with biofilms in foods and food processing environments.
• Characterization of multi-species biofilms of foodborne microorganisms.
• Omics techniques for a better understanding of foodborne microbial biofilms.
• Emerging and promising strategies for detecting, preventing, and controlling foodborne microbial biofilms.

In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome.

Dr. Chiara Rossi
Dr. Clemencia Chaves-López
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the Special Issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Microorganisms is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.