Detection and Elimination of Biofilm Contamination
Freedom Hygiene is a technology driven company whose mission is to seek out innovative solutions that enable food manufacturers and processors to reduce bacterial contamination in their facilities, extend production runs and, where applicable, prolong product shelf life.
Since 2016 Freedom Hygiene has developed a system that enables the rapid detection of bacterial biofilms in food and beverage manufacturing facilities. These biofilms are then quickly removed using innovative enzyme based cleaning detergents.
The company have been NBIC industry partners since 2019 and have been working with academics throughout the UK, trialling new technologies for the elimination of food pathogens such as Listeria monocytogenes. The company have also been working in partnership with NBIC industry partners Campden BRI. Freedom Hygiene are now working to transfer their expertise and experiential knowledge into the healthcare sector.
Confocal laser scanning microscopy 20 x objective lens. Left: Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilm. Right: After one treatment with Biozyme hard surface cleaner. Biozyme hard surface cleaner looks to be an effective treatment of clinically relevant pathogenic bacterial biofilms including Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus.
In May 2023, the company’s Managing Director and Founder Paul Browning gave a 5-minute pitch surrounding their technology at an NBIC showcase event in Nottingham, run in collaboration with Medilink Midlands. NBIC recognised the that the technology would be of be of huge value to healthcare and awarded Freedom Hygiene with an NBIC Innovation Voucher. The voucher scheme aims to fund projects that develop new products or services which help the industry partner innovate and grow as a business.
The project aimed to determine how well the technology was able to remove biofilms containing pathogens related to the to the healthcare industry.
The outcome of the project was very successful and as a result NBIC awarded the company a second voucher to support the project further. In June 2024 the results of the project obtained by using different biofilm models found the technology to be an effective treatment of clinically relevant pathogenic bacterial biofilms. Paul Browning, Managing Director and Founder of Freedom Hygiene said,
“Without NBIC’s support and the Innovation Vouchers, we would have been unable to undertake the work for a considerable amount of time, which would have delayed the adoption of the innovation into the healthcare sector, impacting on patient health and safety.”
The company now plan to test the technology in a real- world hospital setting and create a case study to be used to pursue discussions with hospitals and healthcare providers, ultimately increasing their product offering and expansion into additional markets.