Bacteriophage treatment for reducing and preventing bacterial contamination

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10188121-B2
Application number	US-201615269410-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 19, 2016
Priority date	Mar 25, 2008
Publication date	Jan 29, 2019
Grant date	Jan 29, 2019

Abstract

A system and method for reducing or preventing bacterial contamination in food includes application of a bacteriophage treatment to any type of food product at any stage of processing the food product. The bacteriophage treatment may also be applied to non-food surfaces and water systems, which may be susceptible to bacterial contamination and subsequent spread of bacteria. The bacteriophage treatment comprises at least one bacteriophage in a concentration sufficient to reduce or prevent bacterial contamination from pathogenic bacteria and/or spoilage bacteria. In some embodiments, the bacteriophage is able to reduce or eliminate bacteria introduced to a food product after the bacteriophage treatment was applied to the food product. In some embodiments, the bacteriophage treatment includes a buffering agent to maintain the bacteriophage at a pH level that sustains the bacteriophage. In some embodiments, the bacteriophage treatment includes a surfactant and/or a thickener to aid in applying the bacteriophage. Additional adjuvants and enhancers may be used in some embodiments to stabilize the bacteriophage or enhance its performance as an antibacterial agent.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of treating and preventing bacterial contamination in a meat food product, the method comprising:
applying a bacteriophage treatment to a packaging material as a foam, the bacteriophage treatment comprising:
at least one bacteriophage in a concentration sufficient to reduce or eliminate bacteria selected from the group consisting of pathogenic bacteria, spoilage bacteria, and combinations thereof;
a buffering agent to maintain the bacteriophage treatment at a pH between approximately 4 and 9;
from about 25 ppm to about 2.0 weight percent of a foaming surfactant selected from the group consisting of alcohol ethoxylates, alcohol ethoxylate carboxylate, amine oxides, alkyl sulfates, alkyl ether sulfate, sulfonates, quaternary ammonium compounds, alkyl sarcosines, betaines, alkyl amides and mixtures thereof; and
an adjuvant comprising one or more of calcium, magnesium, a competitive exclusion bacteria, a fatty acid, a terpene, a terpenoid, glycerol, and propylene glycol, and

packaging the food product in the packaging material.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising applying a protectant system to the packaging material, the protectant system comprising a barrier film, a UV light blocking film, a buffering agent, a salt having a divalent cation, salts of gluconic acid, a modified atmosphere, or a combination thereof.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising providing the packaging material with a deactivating component capable of inactivating the bacteriophage at a predetermined time after packaging of the food product in the packaging material.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the deactivating component is selected from non-pathogenic bacteria capable of degrading the bacteriophage, controlled release enzymes, controlled chlorine releasing agents, encapsulated enzymes or organic acids that are released upon hydration, oxychloro species releasing agents, peroxyacids, and combinations thereof.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the packaging material comprises a bag, a pouch, a film, a tray, a bowl, a clam shell, web packaging, or hot dog packaging.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the bacteriophage treatment is applied to the packaging material by spraying.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the food product comprises a raw meat product.

8. A method of treating or preventing bacterial contamination in a meat food product, the method comprising:
applying a bacteriophage treatment to a packaging material, the bacteriophage treatment comprising:
at least one bacteriophage in a concentration of about 10 5 to about 10 11 Plaque Forming Units (PFU)/mL;
a buffering agent to maintain the bacteriophage treatment at a pH between approximately 4 and 9; and
from about 25 ppm to about 2.0 weight percent of a surfactant, and

packaging the food product in the packaging material,
wherein the method is able to treat or prevent bacterial growth when applying the bacteriophage treatment occurs up to 14 days prior to bacterial contamination.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the food product comprises a food product that has not been contaminated with pathogenic bacteria or spoilage bacteria prior to the bacteriophage treatment contacting the food product.

10. The method of claim 8 , wherein the bacteriophage is stable for up to 7 days after the step of applying the bacteriophage treatment.

11. The method of claim 8 , wherein the bacteriophage is stable for up to 7 days after the step of applying the bacteriophage treatment, when the packaging material and the food product have not been contamination prior to applying the bacteriophage treatment.

12. The method of claim 8 further comprising applying a deactivating component capable of inactivating the bacteriophage after a predetermined time.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the deactivating component is selected from non-pathogenic bacteria capable of degrading the bacteriophage, controlled release enzymes, controlled chlorine releasing agents, encapsulated enzymes or organic acids that are released upon hydration, oxychloro species releasing agents, peroxyacids, and combinations thereof.

14. The method of claim 12 , wherein the predetermined time comprises an estimate of when the bacteriophage treatment has eliminated a majority of bacteria.

15. The method of claim 8 further comprising applying a second bacteriophage treatment to the food product, the second bacteriophage treatment comprising a second bacteriophage that is different from the at least one bacteriophage.

Assignees

• Ecolab Usa Inc

Inventors

• Burnett Scott L
• Gutzmann Timothy A
• Cords Bruce R

Classifications

• A23B4/22 Primary

  Microorganisms; Enzymes; {Antibiotics} · CPC title

• B65D81/28

  Applications of food preservatives, fungicides, pesticides or animal repellants · CPC title

• B65D81/264

  for absorbing liquids · CPC title

• B65B25/001

  of foodstuffs, combined with their conservation (B65B25/041, B65B25/062, B65B25/067 take precedence) · CPC title

• A23L3/3463

  Human Necessities · mapped topic