Evaluation antimicrobial activity of phage cocktail against bacteria isolated from chicken meat and milk samples

Ability of microbes to develop antimicrobial resistance is not only a threat to animal health but also leads to residual effect of antibiotic in livestock products. The aimed of study to investigate the antibacterial efficacy of a bacteriophage against pathogens, specifically S. aureus and E. coli associated with milk and chicken meat samples. Bacteriophages were isolated from sewage samples of livestock farms by using the DAL method. Four high-quality phage isolates were selected to evaluate their antibacterial effect bacterial pathogens on chicken meat and milk. Total twelve samples were collected from retail shops, consisting of six each of chicken meat and raw milk. Initially the samples were processed for microbial detection to confirm the presence of bacteria (mainly S. aureus and E. coli. The phage cocktail treatment effectively eliminated E. coli from all meat samples but had no effect on S. aureus. In milk samples, the phage cocktail reduced the presence of both E. coli and S. aureus by 33.3%. This study highlights the use of a bacteriophage cocktail against bacterial pathogens.