Postbiotics: an innovative approach to increase shelf life and quality of foods

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the antimicrobial and antioxidant properties of postbiotics and the use of postbiotics to increase the shelf life and quality of food. Design/methodology/approach In this review paper, all articles from five electronic databases containing Google Scholar, Web of Science, PubMed, Scopus and Science Direct were considered and selected according to the purpose of the study. Findings In addition to improving food safety and increasing its shelf life, natural food preservation using biological preservatives also has a positive effect on improving consumer health. As a result, protection using natural antioxidants and antimicrobial agents seems essential. Postbiotics, having favorable characteristics such as nontoxicity, long shelf life and ease of standardization and transportation, are known as suitable antioxidant and antimicrobial, and there is an interest in making antioxidant and antimicrobial active films containing postbiotics to delay spoilage, increase the shelf life of perishable foods without changing their sensory characteristics. Originality/value Postbiotic refers to all soluble factors that are either secreted from living probiotic cells or released after cell lysis. These compounds include enzymes, peptides, polysaccharides, organic acids, teichoic acids and cell surface proteins, and their effects have been proven to improve some human and animal diseases. Probiotic bacteria must survive unfavorable conditions such as processing, storage, distribution, preparation and the digestive system to exert their health-giving effects, whereas their metabolites (postbiotics) have overcome these adverse conditions well and may be a good substitute for probiotics.