Application of bacteriophages in the agro-food sector: A long way toward approval

Abstract

The rapid increase in multi-drug resistant (MDR) pathogens has put notable pressure on Health Authorities, who foresee an uncertain future for global human health. In June 2017, the European Commission adopted the "EU One Health action plan against antimicrobial resistance," thereby providing a framework for reducing the emergence and spread of antimicrobial resistance as well as boosting the development of new effective antimicrobials. Nowadays, nobody doubts that the use of antibiotics in agro-food production should be properly controlled, as it represents a major source of bacterial resistance acquisition that further reaches clinical settings. Therefore, bacteria control measures other than antibiotics are presently being assessed in order to both reduce food-borne outbreaks and stop the spread of MDR zoonotic bacteria. Among the many antimicrobials suggested to replace or complement traditional antibiotics, bacteriophages and phage-derived proteins (collectively known as phage therapy) are strong candidates for the treatment of human bacterial infections, rescuing the idea from previous work made in Eastern Europe (Sulakvelidze and Morris, 2001). However, after their resurgence almost 20 years ago, it is rather puzzling that we do not have more commercial phage-based products to fight against MDR bacteria. To understand why phage therapy strategies are taking so long to reach the market, we need to examine in detail the nature and properties of these antimicrobials, as well as the existing legal framework.