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5亿只鸡肉产品出口到其他50个国家。另一方面，鸡肉也是食源性沙门氏菌病的头号食物，特别是近年来，随着抗生素耐药性的增加。这导致利益攸关方寻找抗生素替代品，使他们解决这些病原体的选择有限。在环境方面，很难消除沙门氏菌，因为它几乎在整个家禽生产链中随处可见。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发现沙门氏菌检测呈阳性。我们已经创造了一种有效的噬菌体疗法，可以在农场喂鸡，以瞄准并消灭生活在它们的消化系统中的沙门氏菌。噬菌体是一种自然产生的微生物，它在细菌内入侵和繁殖，最终导致细菌死亡。噬菌体不能与动物细胞相互作用，而且它们对单一类型的细菌非常特异。这意味着我们的沙门氏菌噬菌体只能识别和杀死沙门氏菌。噬菌体在食品工业中也有很多可提供的，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，它们不影响食品的营养、质量或感官特征。我们的创新将对家禽行业产生巨大影响，因为这将是我们第一次可以在不使用具有重要医学意义的抗生素的情况下直接减少鸡只离开养殖场时的沙门氏菌负担。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显著减少。

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.