Characterization of Salmonella phages isolated from poultry coops and its effect with nisin on food bio‐control

• Published in: Food science & nutrition Vol. 12; no. 4; pp. 2760 - 2771
• Main Authors: Unverdi, Aysegul, Erol, Hilal Basak, Kaskatepe, Banu, Babacan, Orkun
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States John Wiley and Sons Inc 01-04-2024
• Subjects: food bio‐control; nisin; Original; phage; Salmonella; Salmonella; nisin; phage; food bio‐control
• ISSN: 2048-7177; 2048-7177
• DOI: 10.1002/fsn3.3956

Salmonella is a bacterium associated with food contaminated by various animals, primarily poultry. Interest and research on bacteriophages are increasing because they can be used as an alternative against increasing antibiotic resistance. In our study, eight Salmonella‐specific lytic bacteriophages were isolated from chicken feces. Two of the isolated phages (AUFM_Sc1 and AUFM_Sc3) were chosen for their characterization due to their broader host range. Based on morphological and genomic analysis, AUFM_Sc1 was identified to be close to similar Enterobacteria spp. CC31 (Myoviridae) and AUFM_Sc3 was identified to be close to Salmonella phage vB_Sen_I1 (Demerecviridae (formerly Siphoviridae)). Although these phages have shown promise for use in phage therapy applications for chickens, further studies are needed on their suitability. When a cocktail of these phages (AUFM_Sc1 + AUFM_Sc3) and nisin combination was applied on chicken breast meat, it was determined that it was effective against Salmonella contamination and while a good inhibitory effect was observed on the food, especially during the first 48 h, the effect decreased later, but the bacterial concentration was still low compared to the control group. Therefore, it is considered that the combination of AUFM_Sc1 + AUFM_Sc3 + nisin can be used as a food preservative against Salmonella.
It has been observed that the combined application of bacteriophage and nisin, which we offer as a natural solution to food contamination, has an increasing effect on food safety, and it has been found to preserve the food within 48 h, especially in the case of possible contamination.