Editorial: Industrial and host associated stress responses in food microbes. Implications for food technology and food safety

Abstract

Throughout the food chain, from primary production to consumption, food associated bacteria are confronted with a range of intrinsic and extrinsic factors which influence bacterial survival and activity. Intrinsic stress factors are imposed by food characteristics like high osmolarity or acidity or the dynamics of the microbial ecology of foods; and extrinsic stress factors are inflicted by food preservation methodologies, such as thermal and/or non-thermal inactivation treatments, refrigeration temperatures, or freeze-drying and host associated factors like the stomach acidity or the presence of bile salts in the intestine