Effective control of Shigella contamination in different foods using a novel six-phage cocktail

Shigella, the globally distributed causative agent of bacillary dysentery, is an important microbial contamination in raw and ready-to-eat foods. The recent commercial use of phage cocktails in the food industry is evidence that the method is a highly effective solution in controlling the pathogenic bacteria, especially the antibiotic-resistant strains. This research addresses the effects of a novel phage cocktail made of six different lytic bacteriophages to prevent drug resistant isolates of Shigella species in a wide variety of food products with a different matrix structure, viscosity, carbon content, and texture properties including cooked chicken, cherry tomato, yoghurt, cucumber and Chinese cabbage. After seven days of treatment with the phage cocktail, more than 99% of the bacterial count decreased compared to the control sample (P < 0.0001). The cocktail stability in dry conditions showed that the bacteriophages remain desirably active during food products' average shelf life. The prepared phage cocktail showed to be a very effective product for bio-controlling Shigella due to its high overlap of the host spectrums, the potential for use in a variety of foods, and stability in dry conditions.