Article

Phageguard E (PGE) kill STEC more effectively than organic acids

Roy Andries
30-01-2020
Reading time 1 min
Related bacteria
E. coli
Publishing date January 30th, 2020

  • Onsite dressing operations can lead to STEC spreading on beef parts including, primals/subprimal like cuts, rounds, shanks, boneless beef, or trimmings of any size.

  • Further inline processing of trimmings by either vacuum, fabrication or other processes could allow pathogens on the exterior of these beef parts to penetrate below the surface.

  • L. Shebs et al.(2019) evaluated killing efficiency of the bacteriophage product Phageguard E (PGE), lactic acid (5%) and peroxyacetic acid (400 ppm) on vacuumed and non-vacuumed subprimals.

  • Findings by Shebs and colleagues show for contaminated subprimals, irrespective of vacuum or non-vacuum conditions, that:

  • PGE treatment kills STEC significantly better than treatments with organic acids (1.4 vs. 0.6 logs reduction, respectively)

  • PGE provides a faster kill than lactic and peroxyacetic acids

 

The results of Shebs and colleagues demonstrate that Phageguard E (PGE) is an effective intervention against E. coli O157, which can support your company’s food safety strategy against STEC.