The term hormesis is defined as stimulation by low doses of any potentially harmful agent. In the food industry,many attempts were made to apply hormeric phenomena to the process of improving food storage or increasingfunctional molecules in food. In this study, we reviewed the results of hormetic treatment including pressure, ion-izing radiation, ultraviolet, heat and atmosphere modification from a variety of fruits and vegetables. The hormeticeffects were quite diverse depending on the kind of food, cultivar and experimental environment. It was thereforedifficult to derive the exact and consistent hormetic influences. Nonetheless, it is significant that this study is thefirst attempt to document the impact of various hormetic treatments on food.