Bacteriophage in Food Safety

FST5206: MICROBIOLOGICAL FOOD SAFETY
SEM 2 2022/2023
BACTERIOPHAGES IN FOOD SAFETY
LECTURER:
ASSOC.PROF DR YAYA RUKAYADI
PREPARED BY:
(GS65005)
MASTER OF FOOD SAFETY AND QUALITY ASSURANCE
FACULTY OF FOOD SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
UNIVERSITI PUTRA MALAYSIA

Introduction
Bacteriophages, commonly known as phages, are viruses that infect and multiply in bacterial
cells while leaving human or animal cells alone. They are widespread in the environment and are the
most numerous biological agent on the planet. The phage population in the biosphere is estimated to be
approximately 1031 and strongly influences the quantity of bacteria in diverse ecosystems. They differ
greatly in size, morphology and genetic structure. However, all bacteriophages are made up of a nucleic
acid genome surrounded by a shell of phage-encoded capsid proteins that protect the genetic material
and mediate its passage into the next host cell. Hundreds of phage species have been precisely seen
using electron microscopy, some of which appear to have heads, egs, and tails. Despite this appearance,
phages are non-motile and depend upon Brownian motion to reach their targets (Kasman & Porter,
2022).
Figure 1: Bacteriophage structure
From https://microbenotes.com/bacteriophage/
Mechanism of bacteriophage
Bacteriophages, like other viruses, are extremely species-specific in terms of their hosts and
often only infect a single bacterial species or even certain strains within a species. Once attached to a
vulnerable host, a bacteriophage can use one of two replication strategies: lytic or lysogenic. During a
lytic replication cycle, a phage attaches to a susceptible host bacterium, inserts its genome into the host
cell cytoplasm, and manufactures its proteins using the host's ribosomes. The resources of the host cell
are quickly transformed to viral genomes and capsid proteins, which assemble into many copies of the
original phage. The host cell is either actively or passively lysed as it dies, allowing the new
bacteriophage to infect another host cell. During the lysogenic replication cycle, the phage connects to
a vulnerable host bacterium and inserts its genome into the cytoplasm of the host cell. The phage
genome, on the other hand, is either incorporated into the bacterial cell chromosome or preserved as an
episomal element, where it is duplicated and passed on to daughter bacterial cells without destroying
them. Prophages are integrated phage genomes, while lysogens are bacteria that contain them.
Prophages can revert to lytic replication and destroy their hosts in response to changing environmental
circumstances (Kasman & Porter, 2022).
Figure 2: Life cycles of bacteriophages
From Bacteriophages in Natural and Artificial Environments article by Batinovic et.al in 2019
Phages as protection agents in the food chain
Non-chemical food protection solutions are becoming increasingly popular in an era of organic
food production and greater awareness of healthy eating. Phage cocktails satisfy all of the requirements
for being designated as a green technology for treating pathogenic and spoilage microorganisms in
food.There are several advantages of application of phages in the food chain. Bacteriophages are very
specific which infecting only one species or kind of bacteria. As a result, the natural commensal
microbiota in people and animals' gastrointestinal tracts is not eradicated. Following that, the usage of
bacteriophages had no negative or harmful effects on eukaryotic cells. Bacteriophages are common and
may be found in a variety of food products, soils, and water sources.Phages also have no effect on the
sensory characteristics of food. Apart from that, bacteriophages are extremely resistant to the stress
caused by food processing.
Bacteriophages are primarily utilised to assure food safety in three sectors of the food industry:
primary production, biopreservation, and biosanitization. Phage treatment is used in primary production
to prevent the possibility of plant or animal illness by adding phage during the preharvest stage of
production during the growth of plants or animals. Phages can also be used to control contamination by
possible pathogens during the postharvest stage of food processing and packing. Phages are used in
biosanitization to prevent and minimise biofilms on the surface of equipment. Bacteriophages are
directly injected to food goods during biopreservation to extend the expiry date. (Połaska &
Sokołowska, 2019).
Figure 3: Application of bacteriophages in food production

From Application of bacteriophages in food production and their potential as biocontrol agents in the
organic farming industry article by Kuek et.al in2022
Commercially available phage-based products against food-borne pathogens.
Food is the major mode of transmission for over 200 illnesses. Salmonella, Campylobacter,
Shiga toxin-producing, E. coli, and Listeria monocytogenes are the most common bacterial food-borne
diseases of concern. Each of them has been linked to severe gastrointestinal illnesses. Despite
significant breakthroughs in contemporary technology, such as food cleaning procedures and pathogen
tracking, food-borne infections continue to be a major cause of hospitalisation and mortality globally.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 600 million people nearly one in every ten people
in the world fall unwell after eating contaminated food each year, with 420 000 dying. Many measures
are employed to improve food safety, although food-borne outbreaks remain quite common. The use of
lytic bacteriophages for targeting certain food-borne bacteria in foods without negatively altering their
normal and often beneficial microflora is a new multistep technique developed to prevent food-borne
bacterial diseases from reaching consumers. This method is known as 'bacteriophage or phage
biocontrol'.
Since the regulatory approval of the first phage-based product, ListShieldTM (approved in 2006
as "generally recognised as safe") for the control of L. monocytogenes in meat and poultry products,
efforts to develop new phage-based technologies for pathogen control in postharvest foods have
increased. The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and the US Food and Drug Administration
(FDA) are the primary agencies that approve bacteriophage mixtures for use in the agri-food sector.
Good manufacturing processes should be followed while producing commercially available
bacteriophage cocktails. Bacteriophages employed in phage-based products should be strictly lytic (the
use of lysogenic phages for phage treatment is undesirable owing to horizontal gene transfer) and
efficient against as many strains of the target bacteria as feasible. Cocktails containing a combination
of bacteriophages are advised to boost efficiency and avoid the establishment of bacteriophage-resistant
bacteria. For example, Shiga toxin-producing E. coli serotype O157:H7 can enter the human
gastrointestinal system and cause sickness, causing symptoms such as abdominal cramps and
hemorrhagic diarrhoea. Recent research has shown that E. coli-specific phage preparations are efficient
in inhibiting this serotype. Salmonella infections caused by food are a serious public health problem
across the world. Thus far, all Salmonella phages have been shown to reduce the amount of live cells
in raw meats, processed and RTE meals, and fresh goods, but not in apple slices. This indicates that the
phage was inactivated by the apples' acidic pH.
The idea of hurdle technology has been implemented in the food sector when it was discovered
that when microorganisms are presented with many antimicrobial elements or barriers, their survival
rate reduces dramatically. Many investigations have shown that combining a bacteriophage with
another food-grade antibacterial, such as nisin or trans-cinnamaldehyde oil, has a synergistic effect.
When phages were paired with a protected culture or modified environment packing, the antibacterial
action was also observed to be enhanced.
Conclusion
With the introduction of antibiotic treatment, scientists' original interest in phages' bactericidal
properties declined. Yet, the global problem of bacterial multidrug resistance has lately reignited
interest in phages as a possible weapon against bacterial infections. Bacteriophages can be an effective
and low-cost weapon against food-borne pathogenic bacteria in the context of food safety.
Bacteriophage is getting more and more credit for its success in reducing the number of foodborne
pathogens in the food processing sector, despite some persistent obstacles. The primary benefit of using
bacteriophage is that wild type lytic phages are natural antimicrobials that allow for the targeted
elimination of problem foodborne pathogens in foods while not negatively impacting the natural
microflora of foods or other nutritional or organoleptic qualities of foods. As a result, it is critical to
assure worldwide food safety and food product quality. (Połaska & Sokołowska, 2019).
References
Batinovic, S., Wassef, F., Knowler, S. A., Rice, D. T., Stanton, C. R., Rose, J., ... & Franks, A. E.
(2019). Bacteriophages in natural and artificial environments. Pathogens, 8(3), 100.
https://microbenotes.com/bacteriophage/
Kasman, L. M., & Porter, L. D. (2022, September 26). Bacteriophages - StatPearls - NCBI Bookshelf.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK493185/#:~:text=During%20a%20lytic%20replication%20
cycle,host%20to%20manufacture%20its%20proteins
Kuek, M., McLean, S. K., & Palombo, E. A. (2022). Application of bacteriophages in food production
and their potential as biocontrol agents in the organic farming industry. Biological Control, 165,
104817.
Połaska, M., & Sokołowska, B. (2019). Bacteriophages-a new hope or a huge problem in the food
industry. AIMS microbiology, 5(4), 324–346. https://doi.org/10.3934/microbiol.2019.4.324
World Health Organization (WHO).

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FST5206: MICROBIOLOGICAL FOOD SAFETY

BACTERIOPHAGES IN FOOD SAFETY

ASSOC.PROF DR YAYA RUKAYADI

MASTER OF FOOD SAFETY AND QUALITY ASSURANCE

FACULTY OF FOOD SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

UNIVERSITI PUTRA MALAYSIA

Figure 1: Bacteriophage structure

Figure 2: Life cycles of bacteriophages

Figure 3: Application of bacteriophages in food production

World Health Organization (WHO).

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