# From Dormancy to Eradication: Strategies for Controlling Bacterial Persisters in Food Settings
## 7 Conclusions  
In conclusion, bacterial persisters pose a significant challenge to food safety and quality in industrial environments. These cells, due to their dormant and metabolically inactive state, survive standard antimicrobial treatments, including disinfectants and preservatives. Once conditions become favorable, persisters can resume active growth, leading to potential contamination and spoilage. This resilience underscores the need for comprehensive control strategies to manage persister-related risks in food production. While persister formation is generally categorized into type I (stationary phase-related), type II (stochastically driven via toxin-antitoxin systems), and type III, the impact of these cells on food safety and shelf life has only recently gained attention. Although extensive research has focused on clinical settings, understanding the implications of persisters in food production is crucial for safeguarding product quality and ensuring safety over extended shelf lives. Effectively addressing persister cells requires a multifaceted approach. The most promising methods for targeting specific pathogens in various food matrices depend on the pathogen type and food matrix characteristics. High-pressure treatments and thermal processing effectively inactivate pathogens, particularly in liquid and semi-solid matrices where uniform pressure and heat distribution are achievable, though high-temperature methods' application may be limited by food composition and sensory attributes. Chemical treatments, while effective, are primarily restricted to food-contact surfaces due to safety concerns. Green biocides, bacteriocins, and antimicrobial peptides offer safer alternatives, providing targeted activity against persisters while preserving food quality, making them particularly suitable for minimally processed foods, dairy products, and fermented foods where microbial balance is crucial. Emerging technologies such as bacteriophages, enzymes, and nanostructured antimicrobials hold significant potential for pathogen control, with bacteriophages offering specificity against bacterial pathogens in raw meats and ready-to-eat products, quorum-sensing inhibitors aiding biofilm disruption in fresh and processed foods, and nanostructured antimicrobials ensuring enhanced stability and controlled release of active compounds for packaging and food surfaces. While these approaches present promising opportunities, further research is needed to assess their efficacy, regulatory acceptance, and scalability in complex food matrices. Additionally, a deeper exploration of the feasibility of these strategies in different food production settings is essential. Future studies should evaluate their cost-effectiveness, consumer acceptance, and environmental impact to ensure practical implementation. Furthermore, understanding the potential for persister cell adaptation to these methods over time remains a critical research gap. Developing predictive models to assess persistence risks under varying food processing conditions could enhance preventive strategies and optimize control measures. Overall, despite the aforementioned advancements, key research gaps remain. The precise molecular mechanisms governing persistent formation in food environments are not yet fully elucidated, particularly under different processing conditions. Further studies are needed to identify specific genetic and environmental triggers that influence persister cell survival in food systems. Additionally, the long-term effects of emerging antimicrobial strategies, including their potential impact on microbial communities and resistance development, require in-depth investigation. Interdisciplinary collaboration will be crucial in addressing these knowledge gaps. Integrating expertise from microbiology, food technology, bioinformatics, and material science may accelerate the development of innovative solutions.