Evaluation of a Polymerase Chain Reaction–Based System for Detecting Salmonella Species from Pork Carcass Sponge Samples

Abstract

Pork carcass sponge samples (n = 230) collected from 10 Taiwanese slaughter plants were screened for Salmonella using 2 methods: BAX® for Screening/Salmonella, a polymerase chain reaction-based detection system and a culture method using SM-ID agar as the selective plating medium. The BAX method identified 14 samples as positive for Salmonella. The 8 samples identified as Salmonella-positive by the SM-ID method were also BAXpositive. Inoculation studies showed BAX detected Salmonella in samples having initial 1.4 ϫ ϫ ϫ ϫ ϫ 10 1 cfu/mL Salmonella inoculum prior to the enrichment process in the presence of 3.0 ϫ ϫ ϫ ϫ ϫ 10 6 cfu/mL of non-Salmonella florae. BAX provides a rapid screening alternative to the culture method for Salmonella detection.

Evaluation of the BAX® system for the detection of Salmonella spp. in naturally contaminated chicken meat

“…in BPW was 5.0 x 10 3 CFU / ml. Wu et al (2003) reported that Salmonella spp. was detected by the BAX® system on pork carcass sponge samples with an initial inoculum (prior to enrichment) of 1.4 x 10 1 CFU / ml in the presence of 3.0 x 10 6 CFU / ml of other microbial contaminants.…”