Obligate anaerobic next-generation probiotics as natural antimicrobials in food systems: mechanisms, applications, and challenges.

Foodborne pathogens remain a persistent global challenge, threatening food safety and public health. Conventional probiotics have been explored as natural antimicrobials to antagonize foodborne pathogens but still exhibit varied efficacy in pathogen suppression within complex food systems. In recent years, multiple human commensals such as Akkermansia muciniphila, Faecalibacterium prausnitzii, and Anaerobutyricum hallii have emerged as promising next-generation probiotics (NGPs) due to their ecological relevance, metabolic versatility, and capacity to restore host-microbiota homeostasis. This review first summarizes the potential mechanisms by which these anaerobes and their metabolites contribute to pathogen suppression, including metabolite-mediated inhibition, quorum sensing interference, nutrient and adhesion competition, host immune modulation, and biofilm suppression. Special emphasis is placed on the interplay among key NGPs and their synergistic metabolic networks that reshape microbial ecology and enhance colonization resistance. Furthermore, recent advances in incorporating anaerobic probiotics and their postbiotic derivatives into food systems are discussed, noting that such applications remain emerging and currently limited by the challenges of maintaining obligate anaerobes in aerobic matrices. Finally, we highlight current challenges and future opportunities, emphasizing safety assessment and synthetic microbial consortia. Together, this review provides an integrated perspective on obligate anaerobes as potential solutions for improving food safety and human health through NGPs innovation.