The Biofilm Alliance Forum hosted at Manchester Metropolitan University (1â2 July 2025), brought together representatives from academia, industry, regulators, and standards organisations to discuss current practices, challenges, and opportunities in biofilm management and regulation across UK industry sectors. Participants agreed that biofilms remain a widespread but insufficiently addressed issue affecting food production, water systems, industrial processes, and the built environment. Biofilms contribute to contamination, corrosion, and system inefficiencies, posing risks to public health and infrastructure. Yet, despite their impact, the UK lacks a coherent regulatory or methodological framework to managethem effectively.
The Biofilm Alliance: a partnership between the National Biofilm (Thu,) studied this question.