Phages of dairy Leuconostoc mesenteroides: genomics and factors influencing their adsorption.

Phages infecting Leuconostoc mesenteroides strains can be overlooked during milk fermentation because they do not slowdown the acidification process. However, they can negatively impact the flavor profile of the final product. Yet, the information about these phages is still scarce.

Leuconostoc citreum MB1 as biocontrol agent of Listeria monocytogenes in milk.

Cell-free supernatant from Leuconostoc citreum MB1 revealed specific antilisterial activity. Preliminary studies demonstrated the proteinaceous, heat-stable, bacteriocin-like trait of the antimicrobial components present in the supernatant. Determination of the genes encoding bacteriocins by PCR and DNA sequencing led to amplification products highly homologous with leucocin A (found in diverse Leuconostoc species) and UviB (found in Leuc.

Review: efficiency of physical and chemical treatments on the inactivation of dairy bacteriophages.

Bacteriophages can cause great economic losses due to fermentation failure in dairy plants. Hence, physical and chemical treatments of raw material and/or equipment are mandatory to maintain phage levels as low as possible. Regarding thermal treatments used to kill pathogenic bacteria or achieve longer shelf-life of dairy products, neither low temperature long time nor high temperature short time pasteurization were able to inactivate most lactic acid bacteria (LAB) phages.