Use of Bacteriophages to Improve Food Safety

Abstract

Food safety is a major concern for human health. Foodborne pathogens are responsible for several millions of cases annually worldwide. In order to inactivate these foodborne pathogens, numerous methods are available. However, these conventional methods have several drawbacks, such as heat treatment significantly affects nutritional properties of foods, chemical sanitizers leave residue on foods and food contact surfaces, high-pressure applications require special and relatively expensive equipment, and antibiotic use leads microorganisms to develop antibiotic resistance. One method that could overcome these drawbacks is bacteriophage application. Bacteriophages, or shortly phages, are viruses that infect bacteria, and they are found everywhere where bacteria are found. During the infection progeny phages are produced and phages inactivate bacteria by bursting the cell wall. Phage isolation can easily be done from natural sources like animal feces, wastewater, and sewage. In recent years, there have been many studies about phage application. When phages are applied on foods, they do not affect sensory or nutritional values of foods, humans, and environment. Also, since they are host specific, they only inactivate pathogenic bacteria. In addition, they have a different inactivation mechanism than antibiotics so phages can inactive antibiotic resistant bacteria as well. There are phage-based commercial products that are approved to be used on foods. On the other hand, there are technical and regulatory challenges. To overcome technical challenges, academic studies are being conducted. This study aims to generalize the use of bacteriophages in food industry by reviewing research articles in this area.

Keywords

• bacteriophages
• phages
• food safety
• foodborne pathogens

Bakteriyofajların Gıda Güvenliğini Artırmak Amacıyla Kullanılması

Abstract

Gıda güvenliği insan sağlığı ile önemli derecede ilgilidir. Gıda kaynaklı patojenler dünya çapında yılda milyonlarca vakaya sebep olmaktadırlar. Bu patojenleri inaktive etmek adına sayısız yöntem bulunmaktadır. Fakat bu alışılagelmiş metotların bazı dezavantajları bulunmaktadır. Örneğin ısıl işlemler gıdanın besleyici özelliklerine zarar verirler, kimyasal ilaçlar gıda üzerinde kalıntı bırakırlar, yüksek basınç gibi işlemler yüksek maliyetli cihaz gerektirirler ve antibiyotiklerin kullanımı sonucunda mikroorganizmalar hızla antibiyotik dirençliliği kazanmaktadırlar. Bakteriyofajlar bu sorunların üstesinden gelebilecek bir metot olarak görülmektedir. Bakteriyofajlar, ya da kısaca fajlar, doğada bakterinin bulunduğu her yerde bulunan, hedef mikroorganizmaya özgü ve sadece bakterileri enfekte eden virüslerdir. Enfeksiyon sonucu hücre içinde fajlar çoğalırlar ve bakterinin hücre duvarını patlatarak bakteriyi inaktive ederler. Doğada büyükbaş, küçükbaş ve kümes hayvanlarının dışkıları, atık sular ve kanalizasyonlar gibi bakterilerin yoğun bir şekilde bulunduğu yerlerden rahatça faj izolasyonu yapılabilmektedir. Son yıllarda fajların gıda üzerinde kullanılması ile ilgili birçok çalışma yapılmıştır. Fajlar gıda üzerine uygulandıklarında gıdanın duyusal ve besleyici özelliklerine, insana, çevreye zarar vermezler ve hedef bakteriye özgü olduklarından yararlı mikroorganizmaları inaktive etmezler. Ayrıca inaktivasyon mekanizması antibiyotiklerden farklı olduğundan antibiyotiğe dirençli bakterileri de etkili bir şekilde inaktive ederler. Kimyasal uygulama içermediğinden gıda üzerinde bir kimyasal kalıntı bırakmaz ve uygulanması sırasında pahalı ekipmanlara ihtiyaç duyulmaz. Ticarî olarak gıda üzerinde direkt kullanımı onaylanmış faj bazlı ürünler bulunmaktadır. Öte yandan bakteriyofajların gıda üzerinde kullanılmalarının teknik ve yasal zorlukları da bulunmaktadır. Teknik zorlukları aşmak amacıyla akademik çalışmalar devam etmektedir. Yasal olarak ise bakteriyofaj kullanımı ABD ve Avrupa Birliği’nde belli başlı ürünlerde onay almıştır. Bu çalışma, bu alanda yapılan özgün çalışmaları derleyerek bakteriyofaj kullanımının yaygınlaştırılmasını amaçlamaktadır. 

Keywords

• bakteriyofaj
• faj
• gıda güvenliği
• gıda kaynaklı patojenler

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