Application of a Phage Cocktail for Control of Salmonella in Foods and Reducing Biofilms

Salmonella contamination in foods and their formation of biofilms in food processing facility are the primary bacterial cause of a significant number of foodborne outbreaks and infections. Broad lytic phages are promising alternatives to conventional technologies for pathogen biocontrol in food matrices and reducing biofilms. In this study, 42 Salmonella phages were isolated from environmentally-sourced water samples. We characterized the host range and lytic capacity of phages LPSTLL, LPST94 and LPST153 against Salmonella spp., and all showed a wide host range and broad lytic activity. Electron microscopy analysis indicated that LPSTLL, LPST94, and LPST153 belonged to the family of Siphoviridae, Ackermannviridae and Podoviridae, respectively. We established a phage cocktail containing three phages (LPSTLL, LPST94 and LPST153) that had broad spectrum to lyse diverse Salmonella serovars. A significant decrease was observed in Salmonella with a viable count of 3 log(10) CFU in milk and chicken breast at either 25 °C or 4 °C. It was found that treatment with phage cocktail was able to significantly reduced biofilm on a 96-well microplate (44–63%) and on a stainless steel surface (5.23 to 6.42 log(10)). These findings demonstrated that the phage cocktail described in this study can be potentially used as a biological control agent against Salmonella in food products and also has the effect to reduce Salmonella formed biofilms.