A Honeycomb Film Template-Based Method for High-Throughput Preparation of Anti-Salmonella typhimurium 14,028 Phage Microgels

Developing efficient anti-microbials for thoroughly addressing <i>Salmonella</i> contamination is essential for the improvement of food safety. Phage-built materials have shown great potential for biocontrol in environments. Due to challenges in delivery and stability, their widespread use has remained unattainable. Here, we have developed a honeycomb film template-based method for the high-throughput preparation of phage microgels. The honeycomb film template can be simply fabricated in a humid chamber based on a well-established breath figure method. The bacteriophage microgels can be further manufactured by dropping a pre-gelation solution containing bacteriophages into a honeycomb film template. This method can produce over 210,000 phage microgels in every square centimeter template with each microgel containing 1.04 × 10⁷ phages. They can kill 99.90% of the contaminated <i>S. typhimurium</i> 14,028 on chicken samples. This simple, heat-free, and solvent-free method can maintain the strong anti-bacterial efficiency of phages, which can expand the wide application of phage-built microgels for food decontamination.