The effect of pre-enrichment protocol on the sensitivity and specificity of PCR for detection of naturally contaminated Salmonella in raw poultry compared to conventional culture

• Published in: Food microbiology 2006-09, Vol.23 (6), p.599-604
• Main Authors: Myint, M.S., Johnson, Y.J., Tablante, N.L., Heckert, R.A.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Animals; bacterial contamination; Biological and medical sciences; breast muscle; chicken meat; chicken skin; Chickens; Colony Count, Microbial - methods; Consumer Product Safety; DNA, Bacterial - analysis; enrichment culture; Food Contamination - analysis; Food industries; Food Microbiology; food pathogens; Food Safety and Inspection Service; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; General aspects; ground chicken meat; Humans; Methods of analysis, processing and quality control, regulation, standards; microbial detection; PCR; polymerase chain reaction; Polymerase Chain Reaction - methods; poultry meat; Poultry products; Poultry Products - microbiology; rapid methods; raw meat; Reproducibility of Results; Salmonella; Salmonella - isolation & purification; Salmonella Food Poisoning - prevention & control; sanitation standard operating procedures; selective media; Sensitivity and Specificity; Species Specificity; Time Factors
• ISSN: 0740-0020; 1095-9998
• DOI: 10.1016/j.fm.2005.09.002

Salmonella spp. are the leading cause of foodborne illness worldwide. Conventional culture techniques for the detection of Salmonella spp. are labor intensive and time consuming. Several rapid detection methods have been developed over the past few years. However, standard methods for sample handling and preparation have not been established and limited data are available on the sensitivity and specificity of these methods for detection of Salmonella in naturally contaminated retail meat. Using culture as the gold standard for Salmonella detection in naturally contaminated raw poultry products, the sensitivity and specificity of a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) detection method was determined under varying enrichment protocols. Chicken meat samples (ground, boneless/skinless breast meat, and bone-in breast meat with skin) from retail grocery stores were pre-enriched in buffered peptone water (BPW) and Salmonella specific primers ST 11 and ST 15 were used to amplify a 429 bp region of random fragment target specific to all Salmonella spp. There was a significant decrease ( P-value