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Background Modern encapsulation methods are mainly used to prepare formulations containing probiotic bacteria, while the encapsulation of bacteriophages is a marginal topic of all reports concerning this subject. Meanwhile, interest in phage preparations in the field of medicine is growing and extends to veterinary purposes and various industries including food production. Scope and approach The main efforts of researchers are selection of methods and process conditions, to obtain a product that will preserve the activity of bacteriophages and enable their appropriate release in the target environment. This article summarizes methods of bacteriophage encapsulation and discusses the most important achievements in this field. Key findings and conclusions Future investigation could focus on the possibility of encapsulation of bacteriophages which have not yet been investigated and optimization of the process technology. It is essential to find properly selected systems where phages can be safely added directly to food products and animal feed. Furthermore, long-term stability testing is necessary to evaluate satisfactory microencapsulation efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]