Bacteriophages in Food Applications: From Foe to Friend

Abstract

Bacteriophages (phages) have traditionally been considered troublesome in food fermentations, as they are an important cause of starter-culture failure and trigger significant financial losses. In addition, from an evolutionary perspective, phages have contributed to the pathogenicity of many bacteria through transduction of virulence genes. In contrast, phages have played an important positive role in molecular biology. Moreover, these agents are increasingly being recognized as a potential solution to the detection and biocontrol of various undesirable bacteria, which cause either spoilage of food materials, decreased microbiological safety of foods, or infectious diseases in food animals and crops. The documented successful applications of phages and various phage-derived molecules are discussed in this review, as are many promising new uses that are currently under development.

Bacteriophages to control Shiga toxin-producingE. coli– safety and regulatory challenges

“…Phages can be found wherever is their specific host since they need a viable bacteria cell to replicate and propagate [48]. The phage replication cycle starts with: adsorption, penetration, replication of nucleic acids, and the formation of virions.…”

“…In the context of food safety, lytic phages are interesting tools [48]. Phages are considered a natural agent, in contrast to other food chemical preservatives that are associated with severe health problems, such as cancer, asthma, and others [56].…”

Bacteriophage biocontrol to fight Listeria outbreaks in seafood

“…. Lasagabaster et al Food and Chemical Toxicology xxx (xxxx) xxx-xxx pathogens in foods is also increasingly accepted as a natural and green food safety strategy usually termed "bacteriophage biocontrol" (Moye et al, 2018;O'Sullivan et al, 2019). The use of bacteriophages as a food safety strategy is desirable since they are highly specific towards the pathogen of concern, they are harmless to plants, animals and humans, and they do not affect the existing commensal microbiota of the host, food and/or the environment, or alter food properties (Harada et al, 2018).…”

“…In contrast, temperate bacteriophages display a lysogenic life cycle involving the integration of their genetic material into the bacterial chromosome (prophage) and its subsequent passive replication as a part of the bacterial genome (Wernicki et al, 2017;Batinovic et al, 2019). Temperate bacteriophages can switch to the lytic cycle, either spontaneously, or in response to cellular internal or external triggers of activation (Sharma et al, 2017;O'Sullivan et al, 2019).…”

Characterization of a novel endolysin from bacteriophage infecting Vibrio parahaemolyticus, vB_VpaP_KF2

“…Bacteriophages have been proposed as natural antimicrobial agents not synthetic antibiotics, which have lytic properties against target bacterial hosts by invading them and disrupting the metabolism. Some phage formulations, including ListShield ™ and Sal-moFresh ™ for the control of Listeria monocytogenes and Salmonella enterica, respectively, have been given the Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) status for use in the food industry [2].…”