Recent approaches in food bio-preservation - a review

Bio-preservation is a technique of extending the shelf life of food by using natural or controlled microbiota or antimicrobials. The fermentation products as well as beneficial bacteria are generally selected in this process to control spoilage and render pathogen inactive. The special interest organism or central organism used for this purpose is lactic acid bacteria (LAB) and their metabolites. They are capable to exhibit antimicrobial properties and helpful in imparting unique flavour and texture to the food products. The major compounds produced by LAB are bacteriocin, organic acids and hydrogen peroxide. Bacteriocin is peptides or proteins with antimicrobial activity. On the basis of size, structure and post-translational modification, bacteriocin is divided into four different classes. Due to non-toxic, non-immunogenic, thermo-resistance characteristics and broad bactericidal activity, LAB bacteriocins are considered good bio-preservative agents. The most common LAB bactriocin is nisin which has wider applications in food industry and has been Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved. Nisin and other bacteriocin are being used in vegetables products, dairy and meat industries. Apart from LAB metabolites, bacteriophages and endolysins has promising role in food processing, preservation and safety. Bacteriocins and endolysins are more suitable for DNA shuffling and protein engineering to generate highly potent variants with expanded activity spectrum. Genetically modified bacteriophages may also be helpful in bio-preservation, however; their safety issues must be addressed properly before selection as bio-preservative agent.