Research progress of bacteriophages as antimicrobial agents for food preservation in active packaging

  • DENG Jisi ,
  • SHI Hui
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  • (College of Food Science, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China)

Received date: 2025-01-23

  Revised date: 2025-03-07

  Online published: 2025-10-16

Abstract

Bacteriophages are viruses with specific bactericidal properties, exhibiting targeted action against their host bacteria without harming beneficial flora.Commercialized bacteriophages have been approved by the U.S.Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as generally recognized as safe (GRAS) and can be used as antimicrobial agents in food packaging, specifically targeting various foodborne pathogens.Active packaging refers to packaging that contains active substances, which in turn safeguards the quality and safety of food during storage.The application of bacteriophages in active packaging can confer strong bacteriostatic properties to the packaging, while the packaging can improve phage stability and safeguard phage activity from food during the application process.This review introduces the concept of phages and active packaging, comprehensively discusses and summarizes the application of bacteriophages as bacteriostatic agents in food preservation packaging, including the types of composite materials, carriers and the methods of phage encapsulation and fixation.At the same time, the release mechanism of phage in active packaging is analyzed.This review provides theoretical support for effectively reducing the incidence of foodborne diseases, ensuring food safety and innovative applications of phages in food preservation in the future.

Cite this article

DENG Jisi , SHI Hui . Research progress of bacteriophages as antimicrobial agents for food preservation in active packaging[J]. Food and Fermentation Industries, 2025 , 51(18) : 426 -432 . DOI: 10.13995/j.cnki.11-1802/ts.042236

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