According to the findings published in the journal-ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, cooking oil coating prevents bacteria from growing on food processing equipment. Various foods produced on an industrial scale include raw ingredients mixed together in enormous stainless steel machines that can be difficult to clean. With the constant use, food processing equipment surfaces can get minute scratches that make way for bacteria and biofilms with the perfect place to hide. While these scratches may appear smaller in size to the naked eye, they are like a canyon to bacteria that are only a few micrometres in size.
This increases the risk of contamination from micro-organisms like Salmonella, Listeria and E.coli. Researchers have proposed a simple solution to this problem: trapping a thin layer of cooking oil at the metal surface to fill in microscopic scrapes, cracks and fissures and create a barrier to bacterial attachment. They found that this solution resulted in 1,000x reduction in bacterial levels inside the industrial machines tested.
According to the researchers, coating stainless steel surface oil with every day cooking oil has proven remarkably effective in repelling bacteria. The oil fills in the cracks, creates a hydrophobic layer and acts as a barrier to contaminants on the surface.
You could use every day cooking oils like canola oil, olive oil or corn oil that help provide a safer option for cleaning food processing equipment than the harsh chemicals and disinfectants that are typically used. The sheer size of the machines makes it harder for cleaning materials to do a thorough job, and leftover bacteria can build up resistance to the cleaning agents.
Contamination in food preparation equipment can impact individual health, cause costly product recalls and can still result after chemical-based cleaning occurs.