Development of the immobilisation concept requires two things, advice on the plasma generating equipment and its power and secondly access to such equipment to demonstrate proof of concept. If plasma fields can indeed activate complex surfaces sufficiently to allow covalent bonding of bacteriophages then advice on adapting equipment for a commercial process will be needed also. Activation by electrical field is a transient effect so bacteriophages would have to be taken to the plasma equipment.

Bacteriophages can be covalently immobilised onto plastics and papers used in packaging, to give a true active antibacterial packaging. The resulting packaging Micro products have a shelf life in excess of 6 months, giving them the potential to be manufactured and distributed as conventional packaging materials, while retaining enough activity to provide consumer protection and enhanced shelf life. The packaged product is not adulterated with the antibacterial agent as this remains firmly and covalently bound to the packaging and is only activated in the presence of the target bacteria. Such a product could reduce the incidence of food poisoning and the amount of waste food.