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Food Safety Biocontrol phages

Biocontrol potential of bacteriophages to enhance food safety throughout the food production and processing chain

Abstract ID: 21-QK

Hany Anany 1*

  1. Guelph Research and Development Centre
  2. Science and Technology Branch
  3. Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada / Government of Canada
  4. 93 Stone Road West
  5. Guelph, ON N1G 5C9

In the face of recurrent foodborne outbreaks and product recalls, the need for safer foods remains in the public interest. The extended overuse and misuse of antibiotics and other antibacterial agents in the food industry have further exacerbated the spread of foodborne pathogens with the rise in antimicrobial resistance. This increased demand for safer food products with clean label drives the continuous search for natural alternatives to control the growth of pathogenic bacteria. Bacteriophages have emerged as a legitimate antibacterial alternative with a wide scope of applications which continue to be discovered and refined. From farm to fork, bacteriophages have been shown as a viable option to treat diseases in animals and plants, reduce biofilm formation and contamination in food processing environment, and increase the safety and shelf-life of food products. In this presentation, our research group effort in application of lytic phages to tackle selected bacterial pathogens will be presented. Suggested approaches to overcome the challenges of phage applications as biocontrol tools throughout the food supply chain will also be discussed.  This presentation will start with developing a spry dried phage-carrier biopesticide to control Erwinia amylovora, the causal agent of fire blight disease in apple and pear. Then, the potential of Listeria lytic phage to disperse Listeria monocytogenes biofilm will be evaluated in a simulated food processing conditions. Finally, a smart and high throughput approach for developing a phage cocktail to mitigate the risk of Salmonella in poultry products will be presented.