Application of Protective Cultures and Bacteriocins for Food Biopreservation

The use of microorganisms and their natural metabolites for the biopreservation of foods has been a common practice in the humankind history. The lactic acid bacteria (LAB), generally considered as ‘GRAS’ (‘generally recognised as safe’) organisms, hold great promise for selection and implementation as protective cultures. LAB produce an array of antimicrobial substances (such as organic acids, diacetyl, acetoin, hydrogen peroxide, reuterin, reutericyclin, and bacteriocins. Particularly, bacteriocins were shown effective against foodborne pathogens and spoilage microorganisms. The efficacy of bacteriocins as well as their producing strains for inhibiting several bacterial pathogens has been proven in different food matrices including cheese, meat and vegetables. Nowadays, Protective cultures and bacteriocins are considered as promising alternatives to satisfy the increasing consumer demands for safe, ready-to-eat, extended shelf-life, fresh-tasting and minimally processed foods, without chemical preservatives. The purpose of this Research Topic is to provide a comprehensive reference covering variety of aspects of protective culture and bacteriocins for enhancing the safety, shelf-life and quality of the food products. This research topic is going to include manuscripts (reviews included) contributing to application of protective culture and their antimicrobial metabolites in food matrices. The studies on the impact of bacteriocins and their producer organisms on food microbiota are also of special interest for the current research topic. Manuscripts relying on novel analytical technologies, strategies to reduce or eliminate pathogens in food chain, regulatory policy and emerging technologies for the production and the use of protective culture and their bacteriocins are also welcome.