Natural Treatments for the control of foodborne pathogens

Abstract

For many years, chemical antimicrobial products have been used to be added in food or drinks. Consumers increasingly prefer to use natural non-toxic compounds as potential antimicrobials to inhibit the growth of foodborne pathogens, avoiding the abuse of chemical preservatives. On the other hand, microorganisms have increased the resistance to these old treatments. So, the development and the implementation of natural food preservation methods to control foodborne pathogens is urgent. The use of natural compounds presents in vegetables with antimicrobial activity have been studied for several authors and their results indicated good potential of natural extracts for application in food products. Lytic Bacteriophages are a possible method to improve the biosecurity in food because it was demonstrated that phages could control some foodborne pathogens with a high specificity and reduced effect on organoleptic properties of foods. And the use of several members of the lactic acid bacteria so as to produce antibacterial substances and preservation of foods.