Biocontrol of Salmonella Typhimurium in milk, lettuce, raw pork meat and ready-to-eat steamed-chicken breast by using a novel bacteriophage with broad host range.

Salmonella spp., one of the most frequently reported bacteria, causes foodborne illness and economic losses. Due to the threat of increasing antibiotic resistant foodborne pathogens, application of bacteriophages as novel antibacterial agents in food matrices has become an emerging strategy. In this study, a novel Salmonella phage PS3-1 with high lytic activity against Salmonella Typhimurium was identified from previously isolated phages. PS3-1 belonged to the class Caudoviricetes with a broad host range, and had relatively short latent period (15 min), large burst size (92 PFU/cell), high pH stability (pH 3.0–11.0) and thermal tolerance (4–60 °C). Genome sequencing analysis showed that PS3-1 genome consisted of 107,110 bp DNA, without antibiotic resistance and virulence related genes. The results of growth curve and time-kill assay showed that PS3-1 not only inhibited the growth of S. Typhimurium , but also effectively decreased the viable cell counts (0.30–4.72 log) after 24-h incubation at 7, 25 and 37 °C (P < 0.05). Moreover, >1.28 log of established biofilm cells were effectively removed after 24-h treatment with PS3-1. Besides, PS3-1 significantly reduced the viability of S. Typhimurium in milk, lettuce, raw pork meat and ready-to-eat steamed-chicken breast at different temperatures (P < 0.05). These results demonstrated that PS3-1 may be an excellent antibacterial agent for controlling S. Typhimurium in food industry. • Siphoviridae phage PS3-1 showed a rapid and strong lytic activity against Salmonella. • PS3-1 showed great pH tolerance and thermal stability. • PS3-1 significantly removed the S. Typhimurium biofilms with a maximum reduction of 1.52 log at 7 °C. • PS3-1 effectively reduced S. Typhimurium counts in milk, lettuce, raw pork meat and RTE steamed-chicken breast. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]