Current Perspectives on Viable but Non-culturable Bacteria in Food Safety and Public Health

The viable but non-culturable (VBNC) state is defined as an adaptive mechanism for microorganismsadjusting to stressful conditions. Although VBNC bacteria are alive and metabolically active, they areunable to grow on routine culture media. Nevertheless, the potential capacity of VBNC pathogens to retainvirulence activity and further resuscitate into the culturable state in favorable conditions constitutes a majorhazard to food safety and public health. Food processing, transformation, and storage, as well as nonthermaltechniques, can provoke pathogens toward VBNC induction. The distinct characteristic of VBNCbacteria led to the emergence of novel culture-independent techniques to prevent the misinterpretationof food safety. To deepen our knowledge of the molecular aspect of the VBNC state, several mechanismorientedstudies investigated the metabolic activity of VBNC bacteria and their correlation with differentstressful conditions. This review aims to discuss the molecular mechanisms and genomic factors underlyingthe induction and resuscitation of the VBNC state. The study will further highlight innovative detectionmethods to provide a comprehensive perspective for future studies in the emerging fields of researchconcerning VBNC state, food safety, and public health.

Keywords:

VBNC , Food safety , Public health , Waterborne pathogen , Foodborne bacteria