Microencapsulated bacteriophage cocktail for the targeted inhibition of Salmonella enterica in broiler chickens - Market Assessment Application

到目前为止，鸡是加拿大养殖最多的动物，加拿大鸡肉生产商创造了约28亿美元的收入，每年有5亿鸡肉产品出口到其他50个国家。另一方面，鸡肉也是与食源性沙门氏菌病相关的头号食物，特别是近年来抗生素耐药性不断增强。这导致利益相关者寻找抗生素替代品，使他们在应对这些病原体方面的选择有限。从环境角度来说，沙门氏菌很难被消灭，因为它几乎在整个家禽生产链中无处不在。尽管许多食品安全措施已经到位，但加拿大市场上仍有大约四分之一的鸡被检测出沙门氏菌阳性。我们发明了一种有效的噬菌体治疗方法，可以喂给农场的鸡，以瞄准并消除生活在它们消化系统中的沙门氏菌。噬菌体（噬菌体）是一种自然存在的微生物，它侵入细菌并在细菌内部繁殖，最终导致细菌死亡。噬菌体不能与动物细胞相互作用，而且它们只针对一种细菌。这意味着我们的沙门氏菌噬菌体只能识别并杀死沙门氏菌。噬菌体在食品工业中也有很多用处，因为它们可以安全食用，它们被归类为有机和清洁标签，它们具有成本竞争力，而且它们不会影响食品的营养、质量或感官特征。我们的创新将对家禽业产生重大影响，因为这将是我们第一次在不使用医学上重要的抗生素的情况下，直接减少鸡离开农场时沙门氏菌的负担。我们预测，我们的治疗将导致沙门氏菌减少90%或更多，这将导致零售鸡肉产品的大幅减少。

Chickens are by far the most farmed animal in Canada with ~$2.8 billion generated by Canadian chicken producers, and 500 million chicken products exported to 50 other countries annually. On the other hand, chicken is also the #1 food associated with foodborne salmonellosis, especially in recent years with growing antibiotic resistance. This has resulted in stakeholders searching for antibiotic alternatives, leaving them with limited options to tackle these pathogens. Environmentally, it is difficult to eliminate Salmonella because it is found almost everywhere throughout the poultry production chain. Even though many food safety measures are already in place, about one quarter of the chickens on the Canadian market are still found to test positive for Salmonella. We have created an effective bacteriophage treatment that can be fed to chickens on-farm to target and eliminate the Salmonella living in their digestive systems. A bacteriophage (phage) is a naturally occurring microorganism that invades and reproduces within bacteria, ultimately leading to bacterial death. Phages cannot interact with animal cells, and they are very specific to a single type of bacteria. This means that our Salmonella phages can only recognize and kill Salmonella. Phages also have a lot to offer in the food industry because they are safe to eat, they are classified as organic and clean label, they are cost competitive, and they don't affect the nutrition, quality, or sensory characteristics of food. Our innovation will have a large impact in the poultry industry because it will be the first time that we can directly reduce the burden of Salmonella in chickens leaving the farm without the use of medically important antibiotics. We predict that our treatment will cause a 90% or larger reduction in Salmonella, which will lead to a meaningful decrease on chicken products at retail.