Quorum sensing is a cell-to-cell communication system that exists widely in the microbiome and is related to cell density. The high-density colony population can generate a sufficient number of small molecule signals, activate a variety of downstream cellular processes including virulence and drug resistance mechanisms, tolerate antibiotics, and harm the host. This article gives a general introduction to the current research status of microbial quorum-sensing systems, focuses on the role of quorum-sensing systems in regulating microbial resistance mechanisms, such as drug efflux pump and microbial biofilm formation regulation, and discusses a new strategy for the treatment of drug-resistant bacteria proposed by using quorum quenching to prevent microbial resistance.

Biofilms are microbial aggregation membranes that are formed when microorganisms attach to the surfaces of living or nonliving things. Importantly, biofilm properties provide microorganisms with protection against environmental pressures and enhance their resistance to antimicrobial agents, contributing to microbial persistence and toxicity. Thus, bacterial biofilm formation is part of the bacterial survival mechanism. However, if foodborne pathogens form biofilms, the risk of foodborne disease infections can be greatly exacerbated, which can cause major public health risks and lead to adverse economic consequences. Therefore, research on biofilms and their removal strategies are very important in the food industry. Food waste due to spoilage within the food industry remains a global challenge to environmental sustainability and the security of food supplies. This review describes bacterial biofilm formation, elaborates on the problem associated with biofilms in the food industry, enumerates several kinds of common foodborne pathogens in biofilms, summarizes the current strategies used to eliminate or control harmful bacterial biofilm formation, introduces the current and emerging control strategies, and emphasizes future development prospects with respect to bacterial biofilms.

Foodborne pathogens are the main factors behind foodborne diseases and food poisoning and thus pose a great threat to food safety.

Food safety has become an important public health issue in both developed and developing countries. However, as the foodborne illnesses caused by the pollution of foodborne pathogens occurred frequently, which seriously endangered the safety and health of human beings. More importantly, the traditional techniques, such as PCR and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, are accurate and effective, but their pretreatments are complex and time-consuming. Therefore, how to detect foodborne pathogens quickly and sensitively has become the key to control food safety. Because of its sensitivity, rapidity, and non-destructive damage to the sample, the surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) is considered to be a powerful testing technology that is widely used to different fields. This review aims to give a systematic and comprehensive understanding of SERS for rapid detection of pathogen bacteria. First, the related concepts of SERS are stated, such as its work principal, active substrate, and biochemical origins of the detection of bacteria by SERS. Then the latest progress and applications in food safety, from detection and characterization of targets in label-free method to label method, is summarized. The advantages and limitations of different SERS substrates and methods are discussed. Finally, there are still several hurdles for the further development of SERS techniques into real-world applications. This review comes up with the perspectives on the future trends of the SERS technique in the field of foodborne pathogens detection and some problems to be solved urgently. Therefore, the purpose is mainly to understand the detection of foodborne pathogens and to make further emphasis on the importance of SERS techniques.