Potential to use ultraviolet-treated bacteriophages to control foodborne pathogens.

The use of replication-deficient UV-treated bacteriophages, or phages, presents an alternative to viable phages for food biocontrol applications. Nontransducing UV-treated phages, if used correctly, are unlikely to produce viable progeny phages, which might otherwise mediate undesirable horizontal gene transfer events. Phage T4 and Escherichia coli were used as a model system to examine this possibility.

Influence of host and bacteriophage concentrations on the inactivation of food-borne pathogenic bacteria by two phages.

To use bacteriophages (phages) to control food-borne pathogenic bacteria, it will be necessary to determine the conditions allowing optimal activity. To start exploring these conditions, a Salmonella phage (P7) and a Campylobacter phage (Cj6) were incubated with their respective hosts at 24 degrees C for up to 2 h at varying phage and host cell concentrations, and surviving host cells were enumerated. A quadratic polynomial equation was fitted to the inactivation data and contour maps of inactivation against log(10) phage and host concentrations were plotted.

Efficacy of a peroxyacetic acid formulation as an antimicrobial intervention to reduce levels of inoculated Escherichia coli O157:H7 on external carcass surfaces of hot-boned beef and veal.

The efficacy of a peroxyacetic acid formulation (POAA) at reducing Escherichia coli O157:H7 contamination on external carcass surfaces of hot-boned beef and veal with a commercial spray apparatus was determined. Hot-boned external carcass surfaces were inoculated with either a high dose (10(6) CFU/cm2) in fresh bovine feces or with a low dose (10(3) CFU/cm2) in diluent of laboratory-cultured E. coli O157:H7.