Application of Commercial Bacteriophages for the Control of Pathogens in Raw Milk and Raw Milk Cheese

Our overall goalin this project is to characterize the antimicrobial activity of commercially available phage preparations for use as practical preventive controls forListeria monocytogenes, Salmonellaandshiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC)in raw milk and cheese. At the same time, fundamental new knowledge will be obtained that will advance our understanding of phage-based control in dairy foods. Ultimately, we expect that the completion of this work will have a broad impact on the control strategies that can be implemented to reduce the risk of foodborne illness and improve dairy food safety.We plan to attain this goal by pursuing the followingspecific objectives:1.Determine the antimicrobial activity of commercial phage preparations againstListeria monocytogenes, SalmonellaandSTECin raw milk.2.Determine the antimicrobial activity of commercial phage preparations againstListeria monocytogenes, SalmonellaandSTECduring the manufacture and storage of raw milk cheese.