abstract
Infectious diseases resulting from unsafe food consumption are a global concern. Despite recent advances and control measures in the food industry aimed at fulfilling the growing consumer demand for high-quality and safe food products, infection outbreaks continue to occur. This review stands out by providing an overview of post-harvest food decontamination methods against some of the most important bacterial foodborne pathogens, with particular focus on the advantages and challenges of using phages, including their most recent post-harvest applications directly to food and integration into active food packaging systems, highlighting their potential in providing safer and healthier food products. The already approved commercial phage products and the numerous available studies demonstrate their antibacterial efficacy against some of the most problematic foodborne pathogens in different food products, reinforcing their possible use in the future as a current practice in the food industry for food decontamination. Moreover, the incorporation of phages into packaging materials holds particular promise, providing protection against harsh conditions and enabling their controlled and continuous release into the food matrix. The effectiveness of phage-added packaging materials in reducing the growth of pathogens in food systems has been well-demonstrated. However, there are still some challenges associated with the development of phage-based packaging systems that need to be addressed with future research.
keywords
ESCHERICHIA-COLI O157H7; LISTERIA-MONOCYTOGENES; LYTIC BACTERIOPHAGE; PULSED-LIGHT; SALMONELLA-ENTERITIDIS; FRESH PRODUCE; PHAGE THERAPY; SURFACE DECONTAMINATION; MICROBIOLOGICAL SAFETY; VIRULENT BACTERIOPHAGE
subject category
Microbiology
authors
Braz, M; Pereira, C; Freire, CSR; Almeida, A
our authors
Carla Pereira
Research Fellowship
Carmen Sofia da Rocha Freire Barros
Coordinating Researcher
Márcia Dias Braz
PhD StudentProjects
CICECO - Aveiro Institute of Materials (UIDB/50011/2020)
CICECO - Aveiro Institute of Materials (UIDP/50011/2020)
Associated Laboratory CICECO-Aveiro Institute of Materials (LA/P/0006/2020)
acknowledgements
This work was supported by FCT/MECTES (PIDDAC), which provided financial support to CESAM (UIDP/50017/2020 + UIDB/50017/2020 + LA/P/0094/2020) and the CICECO-Aveiro Institute of Materials (UIDB/50011/2020 (DOI 10.54499/UIDB/50011/2020), UIDP/50011/2020 (DOI 10.54499/UIDP/50011/2020) and LA/P/0006/2020 (DOI 10.54499/LA/P/0006/2020)), through national funds. FCT also supported this work through the attribution of a PhD grant to Marcia Braz (DOI 10.54499/2020.06571.BD) and research contracts to Carla Pereira and Carmen S. R. Freire (DOI 10.54499/CEECIND/03974/2017/CP1459/CT0022 and CEECIND/00464/2017, respectively).