Postbiotics as promising tools for controlling foodborne viruses infections

Foodborne viruses were ranked as the top food safety concerns in recent years and may pose a significant risk to the public's health. Any stage of the food supply chain can experience viral contamination of food, and the fecal-oral route of transmission to humans, which involves contact between individuals as well as ingestion of contaminated food or water may result in a foodborne outbreak. There are some chemical, physical and non-thermal technologies for inactivation of foodborne viruses but these methods can occasionally be ineffectual and alter the food's organoleptic properties. Postbiotics that are all byproducts of non-viable probiotic microorganisms, such as cell walls, lysates, fractions, secretions, components, and metabolites have been demonstrated to have antiviral effects both in vitro and in vivo. The objective of this review is to go over the data that is now available on postbiotics' antiviral qualities, their mode of action against viruses, and their possibility to be used as a promising strategy to reduce the Viral load in food and water. This review will assist in identifying knowledge gaps and in organizing future investigations utilizing postbiotics to manage viral contamination in food or food processing.