Greer G Gordon
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Lacombe Research Centre, Lacombe, Alberta, Canada T4L 1W1.
J Food Prot. 2005 May;68(5):1102-11. doi: 10.4315/0362-028x-68.5.1102.
Bacteriophages are measurable components of the natural microflora in the food production continuum from the farm to the retail outlet. Phages are remarkably stable in these environments and are readily recovered from soil, sewage, water, farm and processing plant effluents, feces, and retail foods. Purified high-titer phage lysates have been used for the species-specific control of bacteria during the pre- and postharvest phases of food production and storage. For example, the inhibition of the phytopathogens Erwinia amylovara and Xanthomonas campestris has reduced the incidence of diseases such as fire blight in apples and bacterial spot of tomato and peaches. Research on preslaughter treatment of food animals has demonstrated phage control of salmonellosis in chickens, enteropathogenic Escherichia coli infections in calves, piglets, and lambs, and E. coli O157:H7 shedding by beef cattle. Phages have also been applied to control the growth of pathogens such as Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella, and Campylobacter jejuni in a variety of refrigerated foods such as fruit, dairy products, poultry, and red meats. Phage control of spoilage bacteria (e.g., Pseudomonas spp. and Brochothrix thermosphacta) in raw chilled meats can result in a significant extension of storage life. Phage biocontrol strategies for food preservation have the advantages of being self-perpetuating, highly discriminatory, natural, and cost-effective. Some of the drawbacks of biopreservation with phages are a limited host range, the requirement for threshold numbers of the bacterial targets, phage-resistant mutants, and the potential for the transduction of undesirable characteristics from one bacterial strain to another. Most research to date has involved experimentally infected plants and animals or artificially inoculated foods. This technology must be transferred to the field and to commercial environments to assess the possibility of controlling natural contaminants under more realistic production and processing conditions.
噬菌体是从农场到零售点的食品生产连续过程中天然微生物群落的可测量组成部分。噬菌体在这些环境中非常稳定，很容易从土壤、污水、水、农场和加工厂废水、粪便及零售食品中分离出来。纯化的高滴度噬菌体裂解物已被用于在食品生产和储存的收获前和收获后阶段对细菌进行种特异性控制。例如，抑制植物病原菌解淀粉欧文氏菌和野油菜黄单胞菌，已降低了苹果火疫病、番茄和桃子细菌性斑点等疾病的发病率。对食用动物屠宰前处理的研究表明，噬菌体可控制鸡的沙门氏菌病、犊牛、仔猪和羔羊的肠致病性大肠杆菌感染以及肉牛的大肠杆菌O157:H7排泄。噬菌体也已被应用于控制多种冷藏食品（如水果、乳制品、家禽和红肉）中单核细胞增生李斯特氏菌、沙门氏菌和空肠弯曲菌等病原菌的生长。控制生鲜冷却肉中腐败细菌（如假单胞菌属和热杀索丝菌）的噬菌体可显著延长储存期。用于食品保鲜的噬菌体生物防治策略具有自我繁殖、高度特异性、天然和成本效益高的优点。噬菌体生物保鲜的一些缺点是宿主范围有限、对细菌靶标的阈值数量要求、噬菌体抗性突变体以及从一种细菌菌株向另一种细菌菌株转导不良特性的可能性。迄今为止，大多数研究涉及实验感染的植物和动物或人工接种的食品。这项技术必须转移到田间和商业环境中，以评估在更实际的生产和加工条件下控制天然污染物的可能性。
