Carnobacterium as a bioprotective and potential probiotic culture to improve food quality, food safety, and human health – a scoping review

Abstract

It is well-known that some bacteria can promote human and animal health. Bacteria of the genus Carnobacterium, while underexplored, have demonstrated significant probiotic and bioprotective potential. In this review, the recent scientific advances in this area are discussed. There are several requirements for a strain to be considered a probiotic or bioprotective agent, including the absence of antimicrobial resistance and the ability to colonize the gastrointestinal tract. Several researchers have reported such features in Carnobacterium bacteria, especially with regard to the production of antimicrobial substances. Research into animal production has advanced, especially in the aquaculture field, wherein inhibitory activity has been demonstrated against several important pathogens (for example Vibrio), and improvement in zootechnical indexes is evident. With respect to human health-related applications, research is still in the early stages. However, excellent in vitro results against pathogens, such as Candida albicans and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, have been reported. Carnobacterium bacteria have been assessed for a variety of applications in food, including direct application to the matrix and application to smart packaging, with proven effectiveness against Listeria monocytogenes. However, there is a lack of in vivo studies on Carnobacterium applications, which hinders its applications in various industries despite its high potential.

Keywords:

• Food preservation
• foodborne outbreaks
• public health
• lactic acid bacteria

Authors’ contribution

AGE, GMD, CMAC, IRS, and JAFC: Conceptualization, investigation, data curation, and writing – original draft. FBL: Supervision and writing – review and editing. REFdM: Conceptualization, writing – review and editing, supervision, project administration.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have influenced this study.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development, processes CNPq 437728/2018-8, 142196/2019-3, and 308598/2020-2; the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel, Financial Code 001 and process CAPES 88887.512219/2020-00; and the Pontifical Catholic University of Parana, Brazil.