The objective of a new study published in the Journal of Applied Microbiology was to identify the primary metabolites accumulating in E.coli O26:H11 as a function of acid (pH 3.6) exposure. Here, different buffers of pH 7.5 and pH 3.6 were used to study the metabolites accumulating in E.coli O26:H11 cells during such pH exposure. It was observed that after 24 hours of acid exposure, there was over 7-log decline in E.coli colonies populations on Trypticase soy agar (TSA) plates. Overall, 293 primary metabolites were identified of which 145 metabolites were differentially expressed between pH 7.5 and pH 3.6 in E.coli O26:H11. Hence, after 24 hours of acid exposure 21 different metabolic pathways appeared to be still functional, indicating that the cells were still metabolically active. Among the identifiable pathways, the key differentially expressed pathways were associated with peptidoglycan biosynthesis, purine metabolism, D-Glutamine/D-glutamate metabolism, nitrogen metabolism, unsaturated fatty acid biosynthesis, and inositol phosphate metabolism. It was stated that understanding the resistance mechanism of pathogenic microorganisms though studying metabolites expression would be helpful in ensuring food safety to a higher degree.