Disinfection Ability of Bacteriophages Against Listeria Monocytogenes Biofilms

Abstract

Pathogenic foodborne bacteria, particularly species belonging to Listeria and Salmonella, pose a growing threat to public health because of their ability to form and/or grow within biofilms on various environments, specifically food processing facility. Within a biofilm, bacteria develop increased resistance to common disinfectants, making surface sterilization a challenge for businesses involved in food processing. In order to determine the viability of bacteriophages as an antibiotic alternative, this experiment attempted to explore the bacteriophage growth process as well as bacteriophage efficacy against Listeria monocyogenes as compared to Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium. A511 bacteriophage was grown and tested on L. monocytogenes 1/2a using previously studied P22 bacteriophage and S. enterica as a control case. While this experiment was unable to establish a defined efficacy of A511 against L. monocytogenes, repeatable results with Salmonella show promising potential for phage therapies.