However, not all viruses are same. Bacteriophages are a type of viruses that are naturally present in the environment and affect only Bacteria. Though, quite odd it may sound but these viruses pose no harm to humans. Bacteriophages after their discovery in early 20th century have been studied adequately. The food that comes to us either packaged or shelved in grocery stores, though effectively stored still contains small amounts of bacteria. Even these remaining minute quantities of bacteria have the potential to cause widespread disease and even death in the consumers.
According to an estimate of World Health Organisation (WHO) 600 million people fall ill after eating contaminated food and 420,000 individuals die each year. Despite the traditional approaches to improve food safety, food borne diseases occur frequently.
A new approach for combatting food borne disease is to use Bacteriophages targeting specific disease causing germs in food. There have been different approaches of employing bacteriophages in this process. These have been used to sanitize the equipment in the food industry and also increase the shelf life of food products against spoilage. In one approach Bacteriophages are mixed into the fodder and feed of animals prior to their slaughtering. These viruses reach the gut of farm animals and kill the bacteria residing in there, significantly reducing bacteria in the meat obtained afterwards from that farm animal. Then there’s another technique in which Bacteriophages are sprayed on the already harvested meat, fruits and vegetables during food processing. This prevents any airborne bacteria to grow on the food product, thus keeps it free from bacteria.
The writer is a scientist and a published author. Currently, he is the assistant professor at the University of Management & Technology. He can be reached at xaidwarraich@ymail.com
Mercuria, a global commodities trading firm headquartered in Geneva, finds its senior executives under scrutiny…
Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) remained bullish for the second session in a row on Monday,…
The rupee remained on the back foot against the US dollar in the interbank market…
The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan has approved the Scheme of Arrangement between Pakistan…
Gold price in the country snapped a six-session losing streak and increased by Rs2,500 per…
Chairman of the Prime Minister Youth’s Programme(PMYP) Rana Mashhood has underscored the success of the…
Leave a Comment