Abstract: Foodborne pathogenic bacteria are recognized as one of the major causes of food-borne diseases. With the fast development of modern food industry, higher requirements have been placed on the rapid detection of pathogens in foods. Considered as the most abundant organism on Earth, bacteriophage can infect bacterial hosts naturally. Current research has documented that phage not only has the characteristics of simple structure, high specificity and low price, but also has the ability to distinguish between living and dead bacteria and is easy to combine with traditional methods for detecting bacterial pathogens in foods. Phages and phage-encoded products can provide a new tool for the detection of foodborne pathogens. More recently, many rapid phage-based detection methods have been developed, especially the application of phage in conjunction with immunology, molecular biology and nanoscale science. In this paper, the principles and applications of phage-based methods for the detection of foodborne pathogens are reviewed and analyzed.

Key words: bacteriophage, foodborne pathogenic bacteria, detection method, genetic engineering