Bacterial Pathogens: Stress Responses and Control Measures in Food Supply Chains

Foodborne diseases caused by consuming food contaminated with bacterial pathogens are predominant food safety issues worldwide. In addition, some of these disease outbreaks are associated with food recalls and subsequent food waste. In order to enhance food safety and food security, many chemical agents and physical interventions are applied along the farm-to-table continuum, which provides opportunities for bacterial pathogens to encounter a vast array of stresses. However, adaptation to a sublethal stress level can induce bacterial tolerance to subsequent homologous or heterologous stressing agents, contributing to bacterial survival and persistence in food-related environments. Furthermore, bacterial pathogens also rely on other mechanisms to respond to environmental stresses, such as the formation of biofilms and the entry into a sublethal injury state or a viable but nonculturable state. These strategies enable pathogens to survive adverse and fluctuating conditions in food supply chains, thus posing a severe threat to a safe food supply throughout the entire food chain.

To combat the food safety challenge posed by bacterial stress responses to traditional intervention strategies, omics technologies and other approaches can be used to reveal the underlying mechanisms. On the other hand, it is crucial to develop commercially available antibacterial alternatives, which should fulfill the requirements of possessing excellent antibacterial activity in foods and a low capacity to induce bacterial resistance. Moreover, these novel antimicrobials also exert the potential to extend the shelf-life of foods, thus reducing food losses. The aforementioned aspects will contribute to ensuring the safety and security of the product in a sustainable food supply chain.

This Research Topic aims to overview recent advances in stress responses and control measures of foodborne bacterial pathogens. We welcome submissions on this topic to build a good body of knowledge for developing effective intervention techniques targeting bacterial pathogens, especially stress-resistant ones. Specific themes are listed below but are not limited to:
- Stress response in bacterial pathogens
- Antibiotic resistance in bacterial pathogens
- Biofilm formation in bacterial pathogens
- Novel antimicrobials or strategies to reduce food contamination with pathogenic or spoilage bacteria
- Sublethal injury or viable but nonculturable state in bacterial pathogens
- Antibacterial or stress response mechanism elucidation by omics technologies and other approaches