Application of Bacteriocins and Protective Cultures in Dairy Food Preservation

Abstract

In the last years, consumers are becoming increasingly aware of the human health risk posed by the use of chemical preservatives in foods. In contrast, the increasing demand by the dairy industry to extend shelf-life and prevent spoilage of dairy products has appeal for new preservatives and new methods of conservation. Bacteriocins are antimicrobial peptides, which can be considered as safe since they can be easily degraded by proteolytic enzymes of the mammalian gastrointestinal tract. Also, most bacteriocin producers belong to lactic acid bacteria (LAB), a group that occurs naturally in foods and have a long history of safe use in dairy industry. Since they pose no health risk concerns, bacteriocins, either purified or excreted by bacteriocin producing strains, are a great alternative to the use of chemical preservatives in dairy products. Bacteriocins can be applied to dairy foods on a purified/crude form or as a bacteriocin-producing LAB as a part of fermentation process or as adjuvant culture. A number of applications of bacteriocins and bacteriocin-producing LAB have been reported to successful control pathogens in milk, yogurt, and cheeses. One of the more recent trends consists in the incorporation of bacteriocins, directly as purified or semi-purified form or in incorporation of bacteriocin-producing LAB into bioactive films and coatings, applied directly onto the food surfaces and packaging. This review is focused on recent developments and applications of bacteriocins and bacteriocin-producing LAB for reducing the microbiological spoilage and improve safety of dairy products.

Bacteriocins, Potent Antimicrobial Peptides and the Fight against Multi Drug Resistant Species: Resistance Is Futile?

“…Bacteriocins have been successfully implemented as food preservatives with nisin "generally regarded as safe" (GRAS) by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) where it is used to prevent to the germination of C. botulinum spores in cheese products [40] and growth of L. monocytogenes in refrigerated dairy [56]. Studies also described the activity of nisin against S. aureus, B. cereus and B. subtilis in processed cheese [57].…”

“…Nisin excreted by L. lactis (ATCC 11404) demonstrated antibacterial activity toward S. suis in vitro with purified MIC values of nisin ranging from 1.25 to 5 µg/mL [41]. Bacteriocins used in food products help meet consumer demand for high quality non chemically processed safe food [56]. Bacteriocins, however, may also be used in combination with other preservation methods (termed hurdle technology) to increase the shelf life and safety of the food items.…”

Cheese sauces: Characteristics of ingredients, manufacturing methods, microbiological and sensory aspects

“…Commercially available under the name Alta2341TM or MicrogardTM, Pediocin (PA-1) was found to reduce Listeria monocytogenes counts in cheese sauce. Also, researchers verified the ability of pediocin to effectively reduce Staphylococcus aureus counts and enhance the shelf life of other raw dairy product (Silva, Silva, & Ribeiro, 2018). Moreover, in 2016, researchers became interested in research associated with food production systems that use advanced thermal processing methods.…”

Diversity of Bacillus Species and Their Antimicrobial Compounds Involved in Alkaline-Fermentation of Indigenous Food Condiments Used in Africa.

“…To date, consumer demands for minimally processed foods or 'fresh foods' without chemical preservatives have stimulated research interest in the new bioconservation methods (Abriouel et al, 2011;Silva et al, 2018). The bioconservation of a food is to increase its shelf life and improve its safety by using microorganisms and/or their metabolites (Ross et al, 2002).…”