Don’t Shut the Stable Door after the Phage Has Bolted—The Importance of Bacteriophage Inactivation in Food Environments
Julia Sommer,
Christoph Trautner,
Anna Kristina Witte,
Susanne Fister,
Dagmar Schoder,
Peter Rossmanith,
Patrick-Julian Mester
Affiliations
Julia Sommer
Christian Doppler Laboratory for Monitoring of Microbial Contaminants, Department for Farm Animal and Public Health in Veterinary Medicine, University of Veterinary Medicine, Veterinaerplatz 1, 1210 Vienna, Austria
Christoph Trautner
Christian Doppler Laboratory for Monitoring of Microbial Contaminants, Department for Farm Animal and Public Health in Veterinary Medicine, University of Veterinary Medicine, Veterinaerplatz 1, 1210 Vienna, Austria
Anna Kristina Witte
Christian Doppler Laboratory for Monitoring of Microbial Contaminants, Department for Farm Animal and Public Health in Veterinary Medicine, University of Veterinary Medicine, Veterinaerplatz 1, 1210 Vienna, Austria
Susanne Fister
Former member of Christian Doppler Laboratory for Monitoring of Microbial Contaminants, Institute of Milk Hygiene, Milk Technology and Food Science, Department for Farm Animal and Public Veterinary Health, University of Veterinary Medicine, Veterinärplatz 1, 1210 Vienna, Austria
Dagmar Schoder
Unit of Food Microbiology, Institute of Food Safety, Food Technology and Veterinary Public Health, Department for Farm Animal and Public Health in Veterinary Medicine, University of Veterinary Medicine, Veterinaerplatz 1, 1210 Vienna, Austria
Peter Rossmanith
Christian Doppler Laboratory for Monitoring of Microbial Contaminants, Department for Farm Animal and Public Health in Veterinary Medicine, University of Veterinary Medicine, Veterinaerplatz 1, 1210 Vienna, Austria
Patrick-Julian Mester
Christian Doppler Laboratory for Monitoring of Microbial Contaminants, Department for Farm Animal and Public Health in Veterinary Medicine, University of Veterinary Medicine, Veterinaerplatz 1, 1210 Vienna, Austria
In recent years, a new potential measure against foodborne pathogenic bacteria was rediscovered—bacteriophages. However, despite all their advantages, in connection to their widespread application in the food industry, negative consequences such as an uncontrolled phage spread as well as a development of phage resistant bacteria can occur. These problems are mostly a result of long-term persistence of phages in the food production environment. As this topic has been neglected so far, this article reviews the current knowledge regarding the effectiveness of disinfectant strategies for phage inactivation and removal. For this purpose, the main commercial phage products, as well as their application fields are first discussed in terms of applicable inactivation strategies and legal regulations. Secondly, an overview of the effectiveness of disinfectants for bacteriophage inactivation in general and commercial phages in particular is given. Finally, this review outlines a possible strategy for users of commercial phage products in order to improve the effectiveness of phage inactivation and removal after application.
