Infectivity responses of to bacteriophages on maize seeds and maize sprouts.

() is a major foodborne pathogen leading to a large number of outbreaks and bringing food safety concerns to sprouts. The control of on maize sprouts is important because raw maize sprouts have been gaining attention as a novel superfood. Compared to conventional chemical methods, the applications of bacteriophages are regarded as natural and organic. This study investigated the effects of a 2 h phage cocktail (SF1 and SI1, MOI 1000) soaking on reducing the populations of three strains: Enteritidis S5-483, Typhimurium S5-536, and Agona PARC5 on maize seeds and during the storage of maize sprouts. The results showed that the phage cocktail treatment effectively reduced populations of strains by 1-3 log CFU/g on maize seeds and decreased population of Agona PACR5 by 1.16 log CFU/g on maize sprouts from 7.55 log CFU/g at day 0 of the storage period. On the other hand, the upregulations of flagella gene by 1.5-folds and membrane gene by 23-folds in Typhimurium S5-536 indicated a differential response to the phage cocktail treatment. Conversely, stress response genes , , and , as well as the DNA repair gene , were downregulated in Agona PARC5. This work shows the use of bacteriophages could contribute as a part of hurdle effect to reduce populations and is beneficial to develop strategies for controlling foodborne pathogens in the production and storage of maize sprouts.