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ARS Home » Plains Area » Clay Center, Nebraska » U.S. Meat Animal Research Center » Meat Safety and Quality » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #412010
Research Project: Holistic Tactics to Advance the Microbiological Safety and Quality of the Red Meat Continuum

Location: Meat Safety and Quality

Title: Assessment of bacteriophage to control Salmonella strains of meat and poultry origin

Author
item Carrasquillo Cott, Natalia
item KATZ, TATUM - Orise Fellow
item Harhay, Dayna
item STEPHENS, TYLER - Sk8 Biotechnologies, Inc
item CHOW, EDITH - Sk8 Biotechnologies, Inc
item Bosilevac, Joseph

Submitted to: International Association for Food Protection Proceedings
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 1/17/2024
Publication Date: 7/14/2024
Citation: Carrasquillo, N., Katz, T., Harhay, D.M., Stephens, T., Chow, E., Bosilevac, J. 2024. Assessment of bacteriophage to control Salmonella strains of meat and poultry origin [abstract]. In proceedings: International Association for Food Protection. July 14-17, 2024, Long Beach, CA. P2-155, p. 210.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Introduction: Salmonella continues to be a challenge in meat and poultry with lytic bacteriophages (phages) offering a possible specific intervention. Purpose: Evaluate three experimental phages alone and combined as a cocktail to prevent the growth of Salmonella sourced from beef (n=48), pork (n=94), and poultry (n=47 chicken and n=48 turkey). Methods: Salmonella were of 65 serotypes including 17 of concern in meat and poultry that are commonly associated with human illness (Anatum, Berta, Dublin, Enteritidis, Hadar, Heidelberg, Infantis, Montevideo, Muechen, Newport, Reading, Saintpaul, Schwarzengrund, Thompson, Typhimurium, and I,4,[5],12:i:-; n=139). Each strain (1x106CFU/mL) was exposed to ten-fold serial dilutions (10-1-10-6) of each phage (1010PFU/mL) or the cocktail. The phage exposed Salmonella were incubated 4h at 37'C, their growth measured by absorbance (550nm), and compared to no phage control. A multivariate linear model was applied to determine which phage at which dilution performed best for Salmonella growth inhibition. The percentage Salmonella growth in presence of phage was modeled as a function of serotype, commodity, pathogenicity, and the interaction of the phage and dilution level. Results: All phage solutions performed significantly differently from one another (p-values < 0.05). In all cases, after marginal model predictions calculated for commodity (averaged over serotype and pathogenicity) and serotypes of concern (averaged over commodity and pathogenicity), the cocktail at 10-1 (1x109PFU/mL) outperformed all other phages and dilutions at limiting Salmonella growth. For the commodities, the predicted percent of Salmonella strains that grew in the presence of cocktail at 10-1 ranged from 7.3% for beef to 12.2% for turkey. For the serotypes of concern, the predicted percent that grew in the presence of cocktail at 10-1 ranged from 0% for Berta, Dublin, Enteritidis, Heidelberg, Newport, Schwarzengrund, Typhimurium, and I,4,[5],12:i:- to 36.0% for Thompson. Significance: Use of this phage cocktail may prove beneficial at reducing particular Salmonella strains of concern when applied to fresh meat and poultry.