Abstract:

Foodborne pathogenic bacteria have a significant impact on food safety. Traditional detection techniques are not sufficient to achieve a satisfactory detection results in short time period. Novel methods with rapidity, sensitivity and specificity are highly desired. Bacteriophages are virus-infecting bacteria, which are widespread in environment and have the characteristic of simple structure, high specificity and rapid propagation. Currently, many phage-based methods have been developed for inexpensive, fast and sensitive detection for foodborne pathogenic bacteria. In this paper, the principles and applications of phage-based methods are reviewed.

Key words: bacteriophage, pathogenic bacteria, detection method