Applied and Industrial Microbiology Laboratory (AIM Lab), Department of Biotechnology, Bhupat and Jyoti Mehta School of Biosciences, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai, India.
Crit Rev Microbiol. 2024 Sep;50(5):702-727. doi: 10.1080/1040841X.2023.2271098. Epub 2023 Oct 20.
Food-contaminating bacteria pose a threat to food safety and the economy by causing foodborne illnesses and spoilage. Bacteriophages, a group of viruses that infect only bacteria, have the potential to control bacteria throughout the "farm-to-fork continuum". Phage application offers several advantages, including targeted action against specific bacterial strains and minimal impact on the natural microflora of food. This review covers multiple aspects of bacteriophages applications in the food industry, including their use as biocontrol and biopreservation agents to fight over 20 different genera of food-contaminating bacteria, reduce cross-contamination and the risk of foodborne diseases, and also to prolong shelf life and preserve freshness. The review also highlights the benefits of using bacteriophages in bioprocesses to selectively inhibit undesirable bacteria, such as substrate competitors and toxin producers, which is particularly valuable in complex microbial bioprocesses where physical or chemical methods become inadequate. Furthermore, the review briefly discusses other uses of bacteriophages in the food industry, such as sanitizing food processing environments and detecting specific bacteria in food products. The review also explores strategies to enhance the effectiveness of phages, such as employing multi-phage cocktails, encapsulated phages, phage products, and synergistic hurdle approaches by combining them with antimicrobials.
食源性病原体通过引起食源性疾病和食品变质，对食品安全和经济构成威胁。噬菌体是一组专门感染细菌的病毒，有可能在“从农场到餐桌的连续体”中控制细菌。噬菌体的应用具有多种优势，包括针对特定细菌菌株的靶向作用以及对食品天然微生物群的最小影响。本文综述了噬菌体在食品工业中的多种应用，包括将其用作生物防治和生物保鲜剂，以对抗 20 多种不同属的食源性病原体细菌，减少交叉污染和食源性疾病的风险，还可以延长货架期并保持新鲜度。本文还强调了在生物工艺中使用噬菌体选择性抑制不良细菌（如底物竞争者和毒素生产者）的益处，这在复杂的微生物生物工艺中尤为重要，因为物理或化学方法变得不充分。此外，本文还简要讨论了噬菌体在食品工业中的其他用途，如对食品加工环境进行消毒以及检测食品产品中的特定细菌。本文还探讨了增强噬菌体效力的策略，例如使用多噬菌体鸡尾酒、包封噬菌体、噬菌体产品以及通过与抗菌剂联合使用协同障碍方法。
