Long-Term Antimicrobial Activity of Phage–Sugar Glasses isClosely Tied to the Processing Conditions

Bacteriophage-based antimicrobials have proven to be effective in the control of foodborne contaminants at various stages of the food production chain. Incorporating bacteriophages onto food-processing surfaces and food packaging can significantly impact food safety. One of the major roadblocks toward using phage as a natural antimicrobial/preservative in food packaging is phage sensitivity to desiccation. We recently developed a coating (film) composed of pullulan and trehalose that proved to be highly effective in preserving the antimicrobial activity of phage for more than 8 weeks. During this investigation, we realized that the conditions under which the films were formed and stored significantly affected the protective ability of these films toward bacteriophage antimicrobials, leading us to design a more in-depth investigation to identify and evaluate the major factors that affect the efficacy of these antimicrobial films. In this work, we report the outcome of a four-factor, two-level full-factoria...