Bacteria are constantly faced to stress situations in their ecological niches, the food and the host gastrointestinal tract. The capacity to detect and respond to surrounding changes is crucial for bacterial pathogens to survive or grow in changing environments. To this purpose, cells have evolved various sophisticated networks designed to protect against stressors or repair damage caused by them. Challenges can occur during production of foods when subjected to processing, and after food ingestion when confronted with host defensive barriers. Some pathogenic bacteria have shown the capacity to develop stable resistance against extreme conditions within a defined genomic context and a limited number of generations. On the other hand, bacteria can also respond to adverse conditions in a transient manner, through the so-called stress tolerance responses. Bacterial stress tolerance responses include both structural and physiological modifications in the cell and are mediated by complex genetic regulatory machinery. Major aspects in the adaptive response are the sensing mechanisms, the characterization of cell defensive systems, such as the operation of regulatory proteins (e.g. RpoS), the induction of homeostatic and repair systems, the synthesis of shock response proteins, and the modifications of cell membranes, particularly in their fatty acid composition and physical properties. This article reviews certain strategies used by foodborne bacteria to respond to particular stresses (acid, cold stress, extreme pressure) in a permanent or transient manner and discusses the implications that such adaptive responses pose for food safety.