Peptide-Based Formulation from Lactic Acid Bacteria Impairs the Pathogen Growth in Ananas Comosus (Pineapple)

Worldwide, street vending commerce has grown exponentially, representing in some countries, including Ecuador, a significant proportion of food consumed by the urban population. Pineapple is one of the common fruits sold as ready-to-eat slices by ambulant vendors in the street or on public transport at risk of contamination by various microorganisms. Previously, we selected Lactobacillus plantarum UTNCys5-4 and Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis Gt28 strains producing peptides with high capacity to inhibit pathogen growth in vitro. In this study, the effect of different edited formulations containing a mixture of Cys5-4/Gt28 peptides was evaluated in vitro and ex vitro against a pathogenic cocktail containing E. coli (2), Salmonella (2) and Shigella (1). The growth of bacterial cocktail co-inoculated with cell-free supernatant containing peptides (formulation T1) and precipitated peptides (formulation T6), in a ratio of Cys5-4/Gt28:1:1 (v/v), results in a decrease of total cell viability with 1.85 and 1.2 log CFU/mL orders of magnitude at 6 h of incubation. About the same decrease (1.9 log CFU/g) was observed when pineapple slices artificially inoculated with the pathogenic cocktail were coated with T1 formulation, indicating the capacity to diminish simultaneous pathogens in situ, thus demonstrating its great biological control and protection. However, the E. coli cell counts reduced by 2.08 log CFU/g while Salmonella and Shigella cell counts reduced by 1.43 and 1.91 log CFU/g, respectively, at 5 days of refrigeration. In the untreated pineapple slices, the total cell density was maintained during storage, suggesting the adaptation of the pathogens to the fruit matrix. The peptide-based formulation exerted a bacteriolytic mode of action inducing pathogenic cell death. The results indicate that coating pineapple slices with peptide-based formulation is a promising approach to protect them from further contamination by microbial spoilage as well as an alternative to increase the food safety.