Patent ID: 8821855

Claim:
A method of controlling a population of a target strain of a microorganism on a food, comprising: introducing a virus composition into contact with a food that has been at least partially prepared for consumption, the food possibly contaminated with a target strain of a host microorganism, the target strain of the host microorganism comprising a microorganism that causes a disease state in humans or animals or a microorganism that causes food to spoil, the virus composition comprising variant virus particles, the variant virus particles having an expanded host range over a wild-type virus particle, the expanded host range including: a wild-type of the target strain of the host microorganism; and at least one virus-resistant variation of the target strain of the host microorganism that resists infection by the wild-type virus particle; and permitting the variant virus particles to bind to and infect: the wild-type of the target strain of the host microorganism; and the at least one virus-resistant variation of the target strain of the host microorganism to limit growth of a population of the wild-type of the target strain of the host microorganism and the at least one virus-resistant variation of the target strain of the host microorganism.