TECH PERSPECTIVE AARON HAND | EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
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.
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N 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, BioFence 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. 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. www.profoodworld.com
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Ofer Shoham, Bio-Fence
| December 2021 |
PROFOOD WORLD
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11/23/21 6:53 PM
