Isolation and evaluation of the lytic spectrum of bacteriophages active against food-borne bacteria

For many years, there has been an increasing resistance of bacteria to many antibiotics and other antimicrobial agents, giving rise to growing concerns with respect to health and safety. Several food-borne bacteria, e.g., Escherichia coli, Salmonella spp., Listeria monocytogenes, Campylobacter spp. and Staphylococcus aureus have been detected as food contaminants and associated with outbreaks of food poisoning and infections in the hospital environment. Bacteriophages have been identified as having antimicrobial properties that may overcome resistances to traditional antimicrobials. The main objective of this work was to isolate phages active against food-borne bacteria from different environmental samples and to determine their lytic spectra. Some phages were isolated from garden soil, Water Treatment Station compost, and from river and seawater, with E. coli and Salmonella spp. isolates as hosts. When the lytic spectrum was tested for each phage, all showed inhibitory and lethal effects against E. coli, Salmonella spp., L. monocytogenes and S. aureus isolates.