Salmonella identification from foods in eight hours: A prototype study with Salmonella Typhimurium

Background and objectives: The significant rise in food borne infections is mainly caused by Campylobacter spp., Salmonella serovars and Verotoxigenic Escherichia coli. As the emerging food borne pathogens cause disease, more studies have been conducted for rapid detection of these pathogens. The combination of immunomagnetic separation and polymerase chain reaction (IMS-PCR) is the most accurate and rapid test preferred by almost every researcher. Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) is preferred for being a new, user friendly and rapid technique in microbiological analyses. The main aim of this study is to detect application of IMS-FTIR for Salmonella identification from foods in a short time with a higher sensitivity.

Materials and methods: Conventional Culture Technique (CC), IMS-CC, IMS-PCR and IMS-FTIR techniques were compared with each other for rapid detection in artificially contaminated minced beef with Salmonella Typhimurium, as of the 2(nd), 4(th) and 8(th) hours of contamination. The method was evaluated in different food matrices and sensitivity, specifity and overall recovery was calculated.

Results: The results indicate that IMS-FTIR can detect S. Typhimurium as of the 8(th) hour with sensitivity of 95.6667, accuracy of 91.69329, false positive ratio of 0.04333 and overall recovery of 95.66%.

Conclusion: It can be suggested that the IMS-FTIR method is capable of detecting S.Typhimurium in a short time with lower cost.