Use of Bacteriocins and Bacteriocinogenic Beneficial Organisms in Food Products: Benefits, Challenges, Concerns

Abstract

This review’s objective was to critically revisit various research approaches for studies on the application of beneficial organisms and bacteriocins as effective biopreservatives in the food industry. There are a substantial number of research papers reporting newly isolated bacterial strains from fermented food products and their application as potential probiotics, including partial characterization of bacteriocins produced by these microorganisms. Most of these studies follow scientific community-accepted standard procedures and propose various applications of the studied strains and bacteriocins as potential biopreservatives for the food industry. A few investigations go somewhat further, performing model studies, exploring the application of expressed bacteriocins in a designed food product, or trying to evaluate the effectiveness of the studied potential probiotics and bacteriocins against foodborne pathogens. Some authors propose applications of bacteriocin producers as starter cultures and are exploring in situ bacteriocin production to aid in the effective control of foodborne pathogens. However, few studies have evaluated the possible adverse effects of bacteriocins, such as toxicity. This comes from well-documented reports on bacteriocins being mostly non-immunogenic and having low cytotoxicity because most of these proteinaceous molecules are small peptides. However, some studies have reported on bacteriocins with noticeable cytotoxicity, which may become even more pronounced in genetically engineered or modified bacteriocins. Moreover, their cytotoxicity can be very specific and is dependent on the concentration of the bacteriocin and the nature of the targeted cell. This will be discussed in detail in the present review.

Turbidimetric bioassays: A solution to antimicrobial activity detection in asymptomatic bacteriuria isolates against uropathogenic Escherichia coli

“…Both nisin and pediocin PA‐1, two FDA‐approved bacteriocins, are permitted for use as partially purified bacteriocin. Partial purification will still separate the antimicrobial component from the host and is a less time‐consuming and more cost‐effective approach (Todorov et al, 2022 ). Engineering a probiotic or generally recognized as a safe (GRAS) organism to encode the bacteriocin could also increase the antimicrobial potential (Kenneally et al, 2022 ).…”

Anti-Listerial Activity of Bacteriocin-like Inhibitory Substance Produced by Enterococcus lactis LBM BT2 Using Alternative Medium with Sugarcane Molasses

“…Bacteriocins are usually reported to have bactericidal/bacteriostatic action and are affected by many factors, including dose, level of purity, indicator/pathogenic and environmental factors [ 39 ]. Regarding product purity, some authors stressed that using highly purified bacteriocins is not an economically feasible approach for biopreservatives since it considerably increases the price of products [ 36 , 42 ]. Enterocin P, which was probably the bacteriocin produced by E. lactis LBM BT2, is known as an anti-listerial bacteriocin [ 43 , 44 ].…”

“…L. monocytogenes is a foodborne pathogen of particular concern, especially in ready-to-eat food products, mainly due to its capability to survive under challenging environmental conditions. In this context, with the increasing consumption of ready-to-eat products and the higher demand for natural foods, biopreservation has become an alternative to traditional chemical methods [ 36 , 41 , 42 ]. Biopreservation is the term employed to describe the use of antimicrobial compounds derived from microorganisms, such as bacteriocins, in food preservation [ 45 ].…”

“…Biopreservation is the term employed to describe the use of antimicrobial compounds derived from microorganisms, such as bacteriocins, in food preservation [ 45 ]. According to Todorov et al [ 42 ], the search for new bacteriocins as potentially effective biopreservatives is a growing scientific field due to recent trends toward more natural food products and the increasing demand by consumers for chemical-free and minimal processed food products.…”

After a century of nisin research - where are we now?

“…Since then, this highly modified peptide has gained approval by regulators in over 80 countries, including the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) (Chikindas et al 2018 ). Nisin has been used in a wide assortment of foods including dairy and dairy desserts, canned goods, processed meats, fish, fruit juices, and beverages (Gharsallaoui et al 2016 , Todorov et al 2022 ). Nisin exhibits potent activity against Gram-positive bacteria including Bacillus cereus, Listeria monocytogenes , enterococci, staphylococci, and streptococci.…”