Abstract

Biofilms represent negative and positive attributes in the industries.  Biofilm is a functional consortium of microorganisms attached to either biotic or abiotic surfaces and embedded under the extracellular polymeric substances (EPS). Spoilage and pathogenic microorganisms can develop biofilms on food industrial surfaces that can lead to food spoilage and disease transmission when the inappropriate clean up and control have been applied in the food industies. However, single and mixed species of microbial biofilms also represent tremendous advantages in bioprocesses and waste treatments. Biofilm reactors have been employed in order to improve the productivities, stability of the processes and reduce the production cost. To understand biofilm, numerous direct and indirect experimental approaches have been used to study the biofilms. Molecular genetics approaches have led to study on the process of biofilm development in order to understand its genetic regulations.

Key words: Biofilm, advantage, disadvantage, control, industry.