Saldinger, S.S., Microbial Food-Safety Research Unit, Department of Food Quality and Safety, Institute for Postharvest and Food Sciences - The Volcani Center, Bet Dagan, Israel
Raja, C.E., Microbial Food-Safety Research Unit, Department of Food Quality and Safety, Institute for Postharvest and Food Sciences - The Volcani Center, Bet Dagan, Israel

During cycling from host to nonhost environments, Salmonella encounter a variety of environmental insults ranging from temperature fluctuations, nutrient availability, and changes in osmolarity to oxidative stress and desiccation. The ability of Salmonella to withstand desiccation stress enables this pathogen to persist in agricultural and in food industry settings for long times and to pose an important food safety risk. Desiccated Salmonella cells develop cross-tolerance to a range of other stresses the pathogen might encounter in agro-industrial environments with important food safety consequences. This chapter provides an overview of desiccation stress response in Salmonella, reviews the current literature on the development of cross-tolerance in desiccated Salmonella cells, and discusses stress response mechanisms potentially responsible for the development of cross-tolerance. The chapter also highlights the potential implications of the cross-tolerance phenomenon to the safety of the food supply chain. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.