Abstract
Bacteriophages, or phages, are one of the most, if not the most, ubiquitous organisms on Earth. Interest in various practical applications of bacteriophages has been gaining momentum recently, with perhaps the most attention (and most regulatory approvals) focused on their use to improve food safety. This approach, termed 'phage biocontrol' or 'bacteriophage biocontrol', includes both pre- and post-harvest application of phages as well as decontamination of the food contact surfaces in food processing facilities. This review focuses on post-harvest applications of phage biocontrol, currently the most commonly used type of phage mediation. We also briefly describe various commercially available phage preparations and discuss the challenges still facing this novel yet promising approach.
Highlights
Phages are Ancient and Abundant in Nature Bacteriophages are the viruses that infect bacteria
To give a few examples: (1) There are an estimated 1.5 × 108 phage particles per gram of agricultural soil (Ashelford et al, 2003; Williamson et al, 2003); (2) There are an estimated 7 to 15 × 106 phages per mL in fresh water lakes (Mohiuddin and Schellhorn, 2015) and 106 to 109 particles per mL in sea water (Bergh et al, 1989); (3) Bacteriophages are likely present in 100% of fresh unprocessed foods and have been isolated from various food products such as beef, pork, chicken, fresh produce, dairy, and fermented foods (Aw et al, 2016; Park et al, 2011; Zhang et al, 2014); (4) Humans are constantly exposed to phages in their daily lives as highly diverse and abundant phage populations are present on various
Almost immediately after their discovery, the ability of phages to infect and kill bacteria led to the exploration of their therapeutic potential against bacterial pathogens, in a clinical approach known as “bacteriophage therapy” or “phage therapy” – with the first therapeutic use in humans described in 1919, just two years after their discovery by d’Herelle (Sulakvelidze and Kutter, 2005; Summers, 2001)
Summary
Bacillus cereus counts were decreased after treatment (Bandara et al, with a single phage in fermented soya bean paste without 2012) affecting Bacillus subtilis, a critical component of the fermentation process. Counts of Campylobacter were reduced by ∼1 log on the (Atterbury et al, surface of chicken skin stored at 4°C after the application 2003). C. jejuni levels were decreased ∼2 logs on experimentally-contaminated chicken skin after application of phage at an MOI of 100:1 or 1,000:1. Salmonella typing Salmonella levels were reduced by ∼2 logs on chicken phage 12 skin treated with phage at an MOI of 100:1 or 1,000:1 and stored for 48 h, and bacterial counts were reduced below the limit of detection when lower levels of bacteria were used to contaminate the chicken. Surviving Salmonella colonies were still sensitive to P7 For both phages, the killing of bacteria was higher at an MOI of 10,000:1 and ∼10,000 CFU/cm of bacteria. The reduction was dependent on the phage concentration, and the phages were more effective at 24°C than 37°C or 12°C
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