A novel bacteriophage isolated from slaughterhouse wastewater and poultry farm effluent could be the key to protecting against Salmonella poisoning. Fishing through slaughterhouse wastewater sounds like an unpleasant task, but it’s one that a team of researchers from Gansu Agricultural University (Lanzhou, China), led by senior author Huitian Gou, has undertaken in order to identify a promising solution to Salmonella decontamination. Salmonella is a key contributor to food poisoning cases and poses a considerable food safety risk to society, with a 2023 screen of 16% of the US population confirming over 7000 cases of Salmonella poisoning, with an alarmingly high hospitalization rate of 29%. In efforts to keep infection at bay, poultry farmers ply their livestock with antibiotics, but this presents its own issues, accelerating the development of antimicrobial-resistant strains. Salmonella’s formation of tightly packed biofilms helps protect them from chemicals and cleaning materials, making a move away from pharmacological solutions towards increased sterility and food hygiene unrealistic. So, what is the solution? Bacteriophages, viruses that prey on bacteria, present a promising natural solution for this issue. The FDA (MD, USA) has labeled numerous lytic phages ‘generally recognized as safe’ and previous research has demonstrated the effectiveness of certain phages at reducing Salmonella populations on chicken skin. However, their real-world efficacy across the spectrum of food systems has yet to be demonstrated. To address this shortfall in evidence, the team set out to identify a novel phage strain, thoroughly characterize it and test its performance in close to real-world settings.…
