Postbiotics: the new horizons of microbial functional bioactive compounds in food preservation and security

Mishra et al. Food Production, Processing and Nutrition (2024) 6:28 https://doi.org/10.1186/s43014-023-00200-w Food Production, Processing and Nutrition Open Access REVIEW Postbiotics: the new horizons of microbial functional bioactive compounds in food preservation and security Bishwambhar Mishra1*† , Awdhesh Kumar Mishra2†, Yugal Kishore Mohanta3,4*†, Rajasri Yadavalli1, Dinesh Chand Agrawal5, Himavarshini Parvath Reddy1, Rithika Gorrepati1, C Nagendranatha Reddy1, Sanjeeb Kumar Mandal1, Mohammad Zaki Shamim6 and Jibanjyoti Panda3 Abstract In recent decades, consumers, manufacturers, and researchers have been more interested in functional foods, which include probiotics, prebiotics, and postbiotics. Probiotics are live microbes that, when regulated in enough quantities, provide health benefits on the host, while the prebiotics are substrates that host microorganisms selectively use. Postbiotics are metabolites and cell-wall components that are beneficial to the host and are released by living bacteria or after lysis. Postbiotic dietary supplements are more stable than probiotics and prebiotics. Many bioactivities of postbiotics are unknown or poorly understood. Hence, this study aims to present a synopsis of the regular elements and new developments of the postbiotics including health-promoting effects, production, conceptualization of terms, bioactivities, and applications in the field of food safety and preservation. Postbiotics aid in bio preservation and the reduction of biofilm development in food due to their organic acids, bacteriocins, and other antibacterial activities. The present study examines the production of postbiotic metabolites in situ in food and the effects of external and internal food components. The antimicrobial roles, removal of biofilms, and its applications in preservation and food safety have also been discussed. This paper also explored the various aspects like manipulation of postbiotic composition in the food system and its safety measures. Keywords Food and health, Food safety, Probiotics, Postbiotics, Bio preservation † Bishwambhar Mishra, Awdhesh Kumar Mishra and Yugal Kishore Mohanta contributed equally and treated as joint first authors. *Correspondence: Bishwambhar Mishra Yugal Kishore Mohanta Full list of author information is available at the end of the article © The Author(s) 2024. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. Mishra et al. Food Production, Processing and Nutrition (2024) 6:28 Page 2 of 17 Graphical Abstract Introduction Numerous elements, such as physical, chemical, and biological threats, compromise food safety. Biological hazards are of the utmost relevance in this regard. Bacteria, for example, play key roles in food decomposition and food-borne disease transmission. Probiotics and their byproducts are examples of bioactive compounds that can be used to suppress harmful microorganisms growth and thus lengthen the lifespan of food products (Singh et al. 2019). Due to their substantial antibacterial effects, probiotics and postbiotics have been used to prevent the proliferation of pathogenic microorganisms and their mediated corruption. Recent research suggests that postbiotics may be suitable replacement ingredients for the probiotic cells and also can be used as innovative antibacterial agents (Nataraj et al. 2020). Healthy effect and adverse effect of probiotic for host health has been illustrated in Fig. 1. As per the statement defined by expert group of FAOWHO 2006, probiotics are "live bacteria, which when provided in suitable proportions, impart a health benefit on the host" (https://www.fao.org/3/a0512e/a0512e. pdf ). Moat probiotic supplements contain a finite list of microbial taxa, principally lactic acid bacteria (Bifidobacterium spp., Lactobacillus spp.), which are considered safe (GRAS). On the other hand prebiotic is defined as “a substrate that is selectively used by host bacteria giving a health advantage” (Binda et al. 2020). Prebiotics can modulate the microbiota framework by boosting species growth, which benefits the host. Synbiotics are frequently characterised as “synergistic mixes of probiotics and prebiotics that benefit the host by enhancing the survival and colonisation of live beneficial bacteria in the host’s gastrointestinal tract” (Roberfroid et al. 2010). Synbiotics can modify the configuration of the microbes present in digestive system and the synthesis of microbial metabolites. Postbiotics are any substances that are released by a microorganism or made by it as part of its metabolic process and have a beneficial upshot on the host, directly or the other way. Since postbiotics don’t have live microbes, the risks that come with them are lower (Binda et al. 2020; Salminen et al. 2021b). However, one concern that arises in connection with the use of the probiotics is the presence of the antibiotic-resistant genes in certain strains of probiotics (Thorakkattu et al. 2022; Vinderola et al. 2022). This is because these strains can implicit to transport antibiotic-resistant genes Mishra et al. Food Production, Processing and Nutrition (2024) 6:28 Page 3 of 17 Fig. 1 Healthy effect and adverse effect of probiotic for host health to infectious microbes through the process of horizontal gene transfer (Puccetti et al. 2020). Because of this lack of stability in the probiotics, the health advantages that are supposed to be offered by probiotic supplements may not be achieved. A significant percentage of postbiotic research is presently devoted to the growth of innovative functional foods and preventive medication formulations for improving host health, also the exact identification of their mechanisms of action. A broad range of bioactive food items, such as probiotics, dairy/ non-dairy products, are currently in the market to meet the needs of clients’ nutrition with different dietary choices, especially those who are hypersensitive to milk peptides, lactose intolerance, and vegetarians (Moradi et al. 2020; Ozma et al. 2022; Wegh et al. 2019). Correlation with definition of probiotics, prebiotics, symbiotics, and postbiotics has been illustrated in Fig. 2. The idea emerged t (...truncated)