Role of stress response on microbial ecology of foods and its impact on the fate of food'borne microorganisms

Food-Associated Stress Primes Foodborne Pathogens for the Gastrointestinal Phase of Infection

“…The stress response proteins help microbes to repair from injury and to cope with sub-lethal treatments. In addition, certain virulence genes are also upregulated under the stressful environment ( Wesche et al, 2009 ; Dong and Schellhorn, 2010 ; Alvarez-Ordóñez et al, 2017 ). The food associated stressors are originated from a series of physical and chemical processing treatments ( Table 1 ) that are employed to minimize or eliminate bacterial growth in food including drying (desiccation), heating, irradiation, ultrasound, sonication, electric pulse, hydrostatic pressure, acids, ethanol, salts and sugars, natural plant, or microbe-derived antimicrobial preservatives, modified atmospheric packaging, and oxidative treatments ( Capozzi et al, 2009 ; Zhou et al, 2010 ; Davidson et al, 2013 ; Wang et al, 2016 ; Esbelin et al, 2018 ).…”

“…Another significant factor to consider with environmental induction of pathogen virulence is cross-protection, that is, resistance to multiple environmental stressors derived from bacterial exposure to a specific environmental stressor ( Capozzi et al, 2009 ; Alvarez-Ordóñez et al, 2015 , 2017 ). For example, several studies have shown that starvation stress induces heat tolerance and resistance to oxidative stress in pathogenic E. coli and Serratia marcescens ( Jenkins et al, 1988 ; Leenanon and Drake, 2001 ; Pittman et al, 2015 ).…”

“…Furthermore, exposure to a primary stressor may lead to the onset of cross-resistance (or adaptation) to multiple secondary stressors, antibiotic resistance, and increased virulence. Due to the similarity of stressors between the food preservation treatments and the gut innate defense, and their impact on pathogen physiology and behavior, it is a grim reality that the food processing treatments could prime the microbial pathogens for enhanced survival and infectivity in a host ( Lin et al, 1996 ; Lim et al, 2010 ; Alvarez-Ordóñez et al, 2015 , 2017 ; Buchanan et al, 2017 ; Fisher et al, 2017 ). Therefore, the modern food processing and production practices employed today, ironically are a curse in disguise, and possibly a major contributing factor for the emergence of increased incidence of foodborne illnesses, outbreaks, and fatality around the globe.…”

“…In 2014, the Foodborne Diseases Active Surveillance Network (FoodNet) from 10 U.S. geographic areas reported 19,542 infections, 4,445 hospitalizations, and 71 deaths ( Crim et al, 2015 ). Increased incidence of foodborne outbreaks and product recalls can be attributed to increased surveillance and reporting, modernization of food processing and agricultural practices, food consumption habits such as the desire for more natural preservative-free foods, increased at-risk populations, more accurate detection methods, antimicrobial resistance, and pathogens with improved adaptation and survivability upon exposure to stressors ( Alvarez-Ordóñez et al, 2015 , 2017 ; Begley and Hill, 2015 ; Bhunia, 2018 ).…”

“…Fascinating similarities exist between the food processing/preservation techniques and the host innate defense strategies. Therefore, the modern food processing practices ( Van Boekel et al, 2010 ; Zhou et al, 2010 ; Davidson et al, 2013 ; Alvarez-Ordóñez et al, 2017 ), could “prime” microbes to be more invasive in the gut due to the ability of pathogens to withstand sub-lethal processing treatments and altered gene expression. Advanced food processing and preservation techniques are designed to reduce pathogen or toxin load or eliminate them from food; however, studies have suggested that food preservation techniques could create a sub-lethal environment ( Capozzi et al, 2009 ).…”