Post Reply - Phages are back in the news!

E. coli

   I had the opportunity to present a paper on "Bacteriophage and food fermentations. Phage assay and enumeration" at a training event in Teramo, Italy on the 11th December 2012.

 While many food microbiologists are familiar with the disruption of cheese making and other  food fermentations by phages some may be less familiar with the more positive applications of phages including their use in preventing bacterial diseases of fruit and vegetables, their use in controlling the concentrations of pathogens in foods e.g. E. coli 0157, their role in nutrient recycling in the oceans and in soil, and in nanotechnology.

I intend to update the bacteriophage pages to reflect these developments over the next few months. The page on Morphology and classification of bacteriophages for lactic acid bacteria has been updated.