Dual Nature of Bacteriophages: Friends or Enemies in Food Industry?

Dear Colleagues,

Bacteriophages (so-called phages) are viruses that infect bacterial cells. Due to their high host specificity, the use of bacteriophages to improve microbiological food safety represents an implementable solution. Bacteriophages can be applied in three sectors of the food industry: 1) primary production, including animal breeding and field crops; 2) bio-sanitization, mainly in production plants, to prevent the formation of biofilms on the surface of equipment, and 3) biopreservation, which aims to extend the shelf life of food by limiting the growth of saprophytic and pathogenic bacteria. Despite many advantages of using bacteriophages in the food industry, phage infections of dairy starter cultures can disrupt the production process, leading to significant economic losses.

Selected bacteriophages may be included in biopreparations, showing effectiveness in biocontrol of saprophytic and/or pathogenic bacteria, and assessed in target food matrices. Temperate bacteriophages, due to the nature of their particles amplification (accompanied by, among others, the risk of transferring antibiotic resistance and virulence genes as a result of horizontal gene transfer), should not be used in food biocontrol, while obligatorily lytic bacteriophages may constitute a promising alternative to conventional methods of preservation commonly used in many branches of the food industry. The use of virulent bacteriophages as “green biotechnology” may contribute to improving food quality and consumer health and safety. By implementing the “farm to fork” strategy, bacteriophages can guarantee the production of health-promoting and sustainable food.

This Special Issue welcomes contributions that improve our understanding of bacteriophages, as well as their possible applications as biocontrol factors in various links in the food chain. Potential areas of interest may include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Isolation and characterization of new bacteriophages targeting saprophytic or pathogenic bacteria;
• Understanding processes related to phage-related pathogenicity of bacterial strains;
• Development of novel bacteriophage-based tools for food biocontrol;
• Studies on the use of phage biopreparations in food industry.

We encourage the submission of different article types to this Special Issue, especially reviews, mini-reviews, and original research articles.

We look forward to receiving valuable contributions.

Prof. Dr. Barbara Sokolowska
Dr. Ewa Jończyk-Matysiak
Dr. Michał Wójcicki
Guest Editors

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