U.S. OKs spray to kill food bacteria

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U.S. OKs spray to kill food bacteriaBaltimore firm wins FDA nod for mix of beneficial virusesBy Jonathan D. Rockoff and Hanah Cho, sun reportersOriginally published August 19, 2006WASHINGTON // A Baltimore company received yesterday the firstpermission that federal food regulators have ever granted for killinga common but sometimes deadly bacteria with a mixture of virusesadded to foods.The mixture of six viruses, developed by Intralytix Inc., aims tosharply reduce the 500 deaths and 2,500 illnesses caused in Americanseach year by exposure to the bacteria often present in some uncookedmeats and poultry. After four years of review, the Food and DrugAdministration said the antimicrobial combination was safe and worksin deli meats and other ready-to-eat foods.John Vazzana, chief executive officer of Intralytix, described theapproval of the mixture as a "huge milestone" in the fight againstbacteria and antibiotic-resistant bacteria that cause food-borneillnesses. The viruses, he said, "are very specific, and they won'tkill or destroy any other organism that is there. The only thing theywill do is kill their target bacteria."The combination of viruses that Intralytix developed kills variousstrains of the Listeria monocytogenes bacteria, a widely occurringmicrobe that especially sickens pregnant women, their fetuses andadults with weakened immune systems.Before final processing, food manufacturers would spray the mixtureon sliced ham, turkey and other foods that usually aren't cooked orreheated before eaten. Cooking and reheating, as well as processing,kills the Listeria bacteria, but foods can become contaminated afterprocessing or even while sitting in a refrigerator.Judged safe, effectiveConsumers shouldn't notice any difference in the taste or color offoods sprayed with the mixture of bacteriophages, as the bacteria-killing viruses are called, the FDA said. Also, the agency foundIntralytix's recipe safe and effective even among men in their 20s,who eat the largest quantities of ready-to-eat foods and consequentlywould ingest the largest amounts of the viruses.Doug Gurian-Sherman, a senior scientist at the Center for FoodSafety, a nonprofit public advocacy group based in Washington, saidbacteriophages were safely used in the Soviet Union to kill bacteriaduring surgeries and other medical treatments. He said the onlypossible harm he could envision from the viruses' use as a foodadditive was allergic reactions in some people."But that's always an issue, and we are exposed to these things allof the time," he said. "I generally wouldn't be concerned about it."In its application for FDA approval, Intralytix said it would purifythe viruses during manufacture to reduce any potential for allergicreactions. An FDA review of studies on the company's combination ofviruses, completed earlier this year, found that they were safe andeffective, including for children. The U.S. Department of Agriculturewill provide additional regulation, monitoring its actual use infoods."As long as it is used in accordance with the regulations, we haveconcluded it's safe," said Andrew J. Zajac, of the FDA's office offood additive safety.The illness caused by the Listeria bacteria carries flu-likesymptoms, such as fever, muscle aches and sometimes, stomach pains.It can lead to severe headaches, a stiff neck, loss of balance andconvulsions.Food manufacturers have been searching for additives that wouldtarget Listeria, Salmonella and other bacteria that sicken consumers.They have relied on antibiotics to kill bacteria, but the microbeshave developed resistance to some of those drugs.Although the incidence of listeriosis is rare among the 76 millionfood-borne illnesses contracted each year, it's responsible for adisproportionately large percentage of hospitalizations and for manydeaths.Since 1987, regulators have been sampling ready-to-eat foods for thebacteria, but the sampling process destroys the product and thuscan't be widely applied, according to the American Meat Institute, anindustry association.Perdue's partJulie DeYoung, a spokeswoman for Perdue Farms in Salisbury, said thechicken processor would consider using Intralytix's mixture. "Theindustry is always looking for more effective ways to controlpathogens in the processing environment," she said.Perdue awarded $1 million to Intralytix to spur the development ofviruses that would fight Listeria and Salmonella, Vazzana said.Based in Camden Yards, Intralytix was founded in 1998 to developviruses that would attack antibiotic-resistant bacteria in humans,Vazzana said. The company, which has 12 employees, finisheddeveloping the anti-Listeria mixture in 2001 and asked the FDA toapprove it in 2002. It has licensed the product for marketing andsale to another company, which Vazzana declined to disclose.In the next year or so, Vazzana said, Intralytix plans to seek FDAapproval for bacteriophage products against E. coli and Salmonella.http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/health/bal-te.bz.fda19aug19,0,6795062.story?coll=bal-home-headlines

 

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