Salmonella is one of the main causes of food-borne illnesses worldwide. Detection methods have proved costly and laborious often requiring up to 5 days to get results. In recent studies real-time PCR technology has shown to offer several advantages in regard to speed, detection limit and cost.

In the study researchers developed a 12-hour DNA-based method for detecting Salmonella bacteria using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and tested it in minced meat samples following 8 hours of preenrichment. Results were then compared to a reference culture method which previously tested 100 minced meat and poultry samples following 24 hours of preenrichment and showed relative accuracy and sensitivity of 99% and specificity of 100%.

"It was successfully demonstrated that the optimized 12-hour PCR method for Salmonella detection produced results comparable to those of the reference culture method with artificially inoculated pork meat and poultry samples," say the researchers.