Table 3.

E. coli viable cell logarithmic reductions after phage treatment of contaminated meat products.

Phage stock/sensitive strain	Assay conditions		Log reduction in E. coli viable cellsa after the incubation time (h)b
	T (°C)	MOI	3	6	24
DT1/EPEC (920)	5	4.4 × 102	NS	**0.80 ± 0.14	NS
	24	4.8 × 102	**0.30 ± 0.05	NS	NS
	5	4.4 × 101	NS	**0.49 ± 0.09	NS
	24	4.8 × 101	NS	NS	**0.46 ± 0.08
DT6/EPEC (920)	5	5.2 × 102	**0.67 ± 0.12	**0.59 ± 0.11	*0.46 ± 0.15
	24	6.5 × 103	*0.32 ± 0.09	NS	NS
	5	5.2 × 101	NS	*0.30 ± 0.08	NS
	24	6.5 × 102	NS	NS	NS
DT6/non-O157 STEC (ARG4827)	5	2.4 × 104	*0.33 ± 0.09	*0.47 ± 0.12	*0.56 ± 0.17
	24	4.0 × 102	*0.43 ± 0.13	NS	NS
	5	2.4 × 103	NS	*0.37 ± 0.09	*0.50 ± 0.16
	24	4.0 × 101	*0.35 ± 0.11	NS	NS
DT6/O157:H7 STEC (464)	5	2.3 × 103	*0.59 ± 0.16	**0.86 ± 0.15	*0.38 ± 0.10
	24	5.8 × 103	**0.77 ± 0.14	***1.15 ± 0.12	NS
	5	2.3 × 102	*0.38 ± 0.09	*0.62 ± 0.18	NS
	24	5.8 × 102	NS	**0.74 ± 0.13	NS
Cocktail/DH5α	5	2.25 × 104	*0.91 ± 0.19	**2.16 ± 0.20	**2.23 ± 0.21
	24	1.75 × 104	*0.66 ± 0.15	NS	NS
Cocktail/O157:H7 STEC (464)	5	1.56 × 105	NS	NS	NS
	24	3.33 × 105	**1.43 ± 0.24	**2.58 ± 0.21	**2.20 ± 0.22

MOI, multiplicity of infection (PFU/CFU); NS, not significant. Mean values of treated and control samples not significantly different using the scheffé method (

^*significant at p = 0.05;

^**significant at p = 0.01;

^***significant at p = 0.001).

^aLog reduction in E. coli viable cells with respect to phage-free control.

^bMean of three data points ± standard deviations.