Employing list-shield bacteriophage as a bio-control intervention for Listeria monocytogenes from raw beef surface and maintain meat quality during refrigeration storage

Meat and meat-based products represent augmented food safety concern due to their high susceptibility towards spoilage and ideal growth conditions for microorganisms. Therefore, it is vital to introduce safe, environment-friendly and economic antimicrobial strategies for ensuring the safety of meat. In this regard, biological interventions are gaining attention globally. In the present exploration, we found that Listeria monocytogenes can survive and grow on raw beef surface at refrigeration temperature i.e., 4 ± 1 °C. Additionally, we examined the effect of applying List-Shield bacteriophage on reducing L. monocytogenes numbers in experimentally contaminated beef samples. A significant reduction of approximately 2.3 logs was recorded in phage-treated beef samples during the storage period of 15 days. Furthermore, phage did not adversely affect the color and pH values of stored beef samples. In addition, a significantly lower purge (3.37%) and nitrogenous losses (TVBN = 22.82 mg N/100 g) were attained by the beef samples treated with bacteriophage at the termination stage of storage. The study concluded that use of bacteriophage can be adopted as an innovative antimicrobial strategy to mitigate the growth of pathogenic bacteria from meat surface.