Direct feeding of microencapsulated bacteriophages to reduce Salmonella colonization in pigs.

Salmonella shedding often increases in pigs after transportation and/or lairage. We previously showed that administering anti-Salmonella bacteriophages to pigs by gavage significantly reduced Salmonella colonization when the pigs were exposed to a Salmonella-contaminated holding pen. Here we tested whether a microencapsulated phage cocktail would remain effective if the treatment was administered to pigs in the feed.

Development of an anti-Salmonella phage cocktail with increased host range.

Salmonella shedding in many livestock species can increase significantly after transport and lairage. Preprocessing increases in shedding can amplify the amount of Salmonella that enters the processing facility and the likelihood of end-product contamination. We previously produced an anti-Salmonella phage cocktail that reduced colonization in swine when the pigs were exposed to an environment heavily contaminated with Salmonella, similar to what might be seen in a transport trailer or processing facility holding pen.