Journal
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH RESEARCH
Volume 31, Issue 6, Pages 687-702Publisher
TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD
DOI: 10.1080/09603123.2019.1680819
Keywords
Bacteriophage; fruits and vegetables; foodborne pathogenic bacteria; biocontrol; food safety
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Foodborne illnesses caused by bacteria are a major global health issue, and bacteriophages are being considered as a biocontrol agent for pathogenic bacteria in the fresh fruit and vegetable industry. However, challenges regarding high costs at the industrial production level (packinghouses, supermarkets) need to be addressed.
Foodborne illnesses, mainly bacteria, are a major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Pathogenic bacteria are involved in almost every step within the fresh produce chain compromising the companies' food safety programs and generating an ascending number of foodborne outbreaks in various regions of the world. Recently, bacteriophages return to the status of biocontrol agents. These bacteria-killing viruses are able to reduce or eliminate pathogenic bacterial load from raw and ready to eat foods. Phages are efficient, strain specific, easy to isolate and manipulate, and for that reasons, they have been used in pre and post harvest processes alone or mixed with antimicrobial agents for biocontrolling pathogenic bacteria. In this review, we focused on the feasibility of using lytic bacteriophage on fresh fruits and vegetables industry, considering challenges and perspectives mainly at industrial production level (packinghouses, supermarkets), where high volume of phage preparations and consequently high costs may be required.
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