| Many factors threaten food safety, such as physical, chemical, and biological hazards. In this
regard, biological hazards are of paramount importance. Among them, the bacteria play important roles
in causing food spoilage and food-borne diseases. Besides, a new approach has been used in recent
years, which is based on probiotics and postbiotics to control the growth of pathogenic germs and their
mediated corruption due to their significant antimicrobial properties. The outcomes of recent
investigations suggest that postbiotics might be appropriate alternative elements for probiotic cells and
can be employed as novel antimicrobial agents. The main antimicrobial mechanisms of postbiotics
include acidifying the cellular cytoplasm and preventing energy regulation and production, suppressing
the growth of pathogenic microorganisms by the formation of pores in cell membranes, and
morphological and functional changes of sensitive components such as proteins and peptides by
creating acidity in the bacterial cell membrane as well as inducing the oxidation of bacterial cells.
Therefore, presently scientific literature approves that postbiotics can be applied as promising tools in
food practice to prevent microbial corruption and develop functional foods due to their unique features.
This review addresses the latest postbiotic applications with regards to food safety. Potential postbiotic
applications in the inhibition of food spoilage and pathogenic microbes, food biopreservation, and
biofilm control are also reviewed. |