Foodborne illnesses of microbial origin continue to be serious food safety problems worldwide. In addition to being of significant public health importance, the economic impact of foodborne bacterial infections is very significant. For example, in the USA alone, Salmonella foodborne illnesses result in ca. $2.4 billion in medical costs annually and hospitalizations and deaths due to E. coli O157:H7 infections lead to an estimated $405 million in medical costs and lost productivity annually. Also, substantive costs to the food industry are incurred in the form of product loss and brand-damaging publicity associated with recalling products contaminated with pathogenic bacteria. Thus, there are very strong public health and economic incentives to develop novel approaches for managing contamination of a broad range of foods by specific foodborne bacterial pathogens. Lytic bacteriophages provide one such approach. So, what do you know about bacteriophages and their applications in the production and processing of food?
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Please take a look at this useful RG link.
Article Bacteriophage Applications for Food Production and Processing
this issue is very important. but creating a reliable food chain is very difficult. pesticides soaked in crops. these come back to us as illness and tax.
Please take a look at this useful RG link.
Article Bacteriophage Applications for Food Production and Processing
Manal Hadi Kanaan Application of bacteriophages needs deep knowledge of the target bacteria genetic diversiy and formulation of bacteriophages cocktail that can kill at least 85% of strains. We apply phage for 8 years with success against soft-rot pathogens on potato and vegetables sent to supermarket shelves. It works as short-term protection, but makes free space for other bacteria as well if we store potato seeds for an example.
It is more difficult to apply phages against food-born pathogens - you probably can reduce number of common bacteria, present in certain food-processing plant, but you cannot predict genotype of pathogen (e.g. Salmonella) in outbreak. Once you have identified the pathogen, you must clean up the plant facilities by efficient bactericides, and maybe, use phage for further profilactial treatment. It is similar to application of wide-range phage cocktails after antibiotic treatment of patient.
https://www.khanacademy.org/science/biology/biology-of-viruses/virus-biology/a/bacteriophages
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Article Bacteriophages and their applications
The bacteriophages are used to protect food from bacteria and fungi that cause food spoilage.
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Despite advances in modern technologies, the food industry is continuously challenged with the threat of microbial contamination. The overuse of antibiotics has further escalated this problem, resulting in the increasing emergence of antibiotic-resistant foodborne pathogens. Efforts to develop new methods for controlling microbial contamination in food and the food processing environment are extremely important. Accordingly, Bacteriophage (Phages) and their derivatives have emerged as novel, viable, and safe options for the prevention, treatment, and/or eradication of these contaminants in a range of foods and food processing environments. Whole phages, modified phages, and their derivatives are discussed in terms of current uses and future potential as antimicrobials in the traditional farm-to-fork context, encompassing areas such as primary production, postharvest processing, bio sanitation and detection. The review also presents some safety concerns to ensure safe and effective exploitation of bacteriophages in the future
Bacteriophages are bacterial viruses that infect bacterial cells with high specificity, and in the case of lytic phages, they disrupt and lyse their host cells, resulting in cell death. Typically, the life cycles of bacteriophages can be classified broadly into two categories, lytic (virulent) and lysogenic (temperate phage) cycles (Kutter & Sulakvelidze, 2005)
Phages intended for use in food have to meet several requirements. Obviously, only strongly lytic phages should be considered for biocontrol applications. Their host range should cover all epidemiologically important strains of the target microorganism, and, of course, safety of the phage application should be tested very thoroughly. It should be determined if their DNA carries any genes coding for virulence factors like toxins and/ or lysogenic properties (Hagens & Loessner, 2010 & Mahony et al., 2011).
Therefore, an effective phage should have a “Goldilocks” host range, not too narrow and not too broad. Felix O1 is a perfect example of broad host range phages; it lyses 96–99.5% of Salmonella serovars. Stability at different storage and application conditions is another important aspect that should be defined in the selected phage. Indeed, it is important to test phages for durability within the intended-use environment, which requires investing resources in phage characterization (Gill & Hyman, 2010).
Research on phage biocontrol in the area of meat includes experiments by Atterbury and colleagues (2003), where phages were used to control C. jejuni contamination on the surface of chicken skin. The application of phages resulted in a 1–1.3-log reduction in C. jejuni within 24 h. An increase in biocontrol efficiency was obtained when phage treatment was combined with the freezing of chicken skin at −20◦C.
Although few studies on the application of phage-derived enzymes in food have been reported in comparison to their use in human and veterinary medicine, their potential as biocontrol agents in the food industry is increasingly becoming a focus of research interest (Brovko et al., 2012; Chibeu, 2013 & Endersen et al., 2014). Endolysins (lysins) are peptidoglycan-degrading enzymes produced by bacteriophages during the terminal stage of their lytic life cycle (Young, 1992). They are particularly effective when applied exogenously to Gram-positive bacteria, resulting in immediate bacteriolysis.
Several studies have described the use of phages for surface decontamination and to control formation of biofilms by various pathogens. The effectiveness of different phages to remove Listeria from stainless steel and polypropylene surfaces was investigated (Roy et al., 1993). Listeria phage P100 was able to control biofilm formation of L. monocytogenes on stainless steel surfaces with a mean reduction of 5.29 log CFU/cm2 (Izquierdo et al., 2012).
There are many promising studies on the use of phages to control biofilm formation by bacteria such as Pseudomonas spp., C. jejuni and Staphylococcus epidermidis (Brovko et al., 2012). The phage mixture BEC8 was investigated to control the growth of Enterohemorrhagic E. coli O157:H7 on some food-processing surfaces such as stainless steel and ceramic tiles (Viazis et al., 2011).
Examples of phage application along the food chain (Garcia et al., 2008)
Technological challenges to strengthen the future use of bacteriophages as biopreservatives will require the establishment of safe large scale production processes. Despite the fact that current research is basically at the experimental stage, the increasing number of publications and emerging companies in this area are paving the way for the future of phage-based biopreservation technologies. Landmarks for the next step towards the establishment of expanded commercial applications will be influenced by the accurate knowledge of bacteriophage biology to allow consumers to feel confident about the safety of ‘edible viruses’.
Please also go through the following RG links.
Article Beneficial Face of Bacteriophages: Applications in Food Processing
Article Phage Therapy in the Food Industry
Article Bacteriophages and Their Role in Food Safety
Article Phage and Their Lysins as Biocontrol Agents for Food Safety ...
Article Phage Biocontrol Applications in Food Production and Processing
Article Use of Products a Phage in Food Industry as a New Method for...
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Dear Dr Kanaan, Very important subject but please also consider magnetotactic bacteria. There are too many to list here . Food packaging where electromagnetic conveyor belts are used can involve High Gradient Magnetic Fields - these can and should be measured and shielded if nanoTesla levels are high. And don't forget the workers at the units. Best wishes Dr Anne Silk
Manal Hadi Kanaan
Article Bacteriophages and their application in food safety
Bacteriophages or phages are natural enemies of bacteria and hence they are man friends to fight bacterial infections. They are ubiquitous in our world, mainly in the oceans, soil, the water and food we consume. Phages are ten times more numerous in the environment than bacteria, with an estimated number of 10 to the power 32 bacteriophages.
There are wide applications of phages in agriculture, clinical use, disease diagnosis, veterinary bio-control and also food safety.
Ref:
https://www.myfoodresearch.com/uploads/8/4/8/5/84855864/_1__fr-2018-082_thung_2.pdf
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Dear Dr. Anne Silk Thanks a lot for your comment and contribution. Really thanks. Thanks for your kindness and support. Actually, my Ph.D. supervisor when design the Ph.D. project it was about bacteriophages as an intervention against Salmonella contaminating meat products, but in our country, there is no financial support to student so, he decided to alter the project with ozone instead of phages. Actually, I wish to work on such topics as bacteriophages or predator bacteria as these topics still in scientific and practical trials. And I am trying to find such projects (novel and original). Thanks a lot Dr. Anne Silk
Article Bacteriophages and Their Role in Food Safety
Article Bacteriophages and their application in food safety
Very well written articles on the issue, Manal Hadi Kanaan Maam.
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Kindly read some interesting research articles related to the above topic through the below link. I am optimistic these articles will help you broaden your knowledge.
Article Bacteriophage Applications for Food Production and Processing
Article Bacteriophages for Detection and Control of Bacterial Pathog...
Article Bacteriophage applications for fresh produce food safety
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