Partial characterization and in vitro evaluation of a lytic bacteriophage for biocontrol of <i>Campylobacter jejuni</i> in mutton and chicken meat

Abstract

Abstract Campylobacter jejuni is a major foodborne pathogen causing acute bacterial enteritis worldwide. Screening of novel bacteriophages as biocontrol tools to eliminate C . jejuni in food during pre‐ and postharvest is an emerging research field. In this study, we partially characterized C . jejuni bacteriophage CJ01 for potential use as biocontrol agent. Transmission electron microscopy revealed bacteriophage CJ01 belonged to the Myoviridae family with a genome size of approximately 136 kb. The results of host range assay revealed CJ01 was able to infect C . jejuni and C . lari strains, with burst size about 35 phages per infected cell and latent period of 30 min. The effectiveness of bacteriophage CJ01 (with 100 multiplicity of infection = 100) was determined in mutton and chicken meat artificially contaminated with C . jejuni . The amount of C . jejuni in treated mutton and chicken meat were significantly reduced by 1.70 log CFU/g and 1.68 log CFU/g, respectively, after 48 hr stored at refrigeration temperature (4°C). The data presented here suggest that bacteriophage CJ01 can be used as a postharvest biocontrol agent.