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RESEARCH PRODUCT

APPLICATION OF REAL-TIME POLYMERASE CHAIN REACTION FOR RAPID DETERMINATION OFSALMONELLAIN RESTAURANT FOODS

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description

Several foods have been identified as frequently or occasionally contaminated with Salmonella, such as eggs, raw milk and all raw foods of animal origin that may carry salmonella and other bacteria. Salmonellosis is the most common food-borne illness, but it is usually preventable according to the implementation of a food safety system that includes Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point. In this study, 96 food samples of the University restaurant of Valencia (Spain) were divided into four groups: first course; main course; accompaniment; and dessert, and were analyzed simultaneously with classical and fluorogenic polymerase chain reaction microbiological analysis. Neither of the procedures detected the presence of Salmonella in the analyzed food samples. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS Polymerase chain reaction applied to identify Salmonella is time-effective and reduces the amount of time required. Identification results are available 48 h earlier than classical testing. For this reason, this method is useful as a more rapid screening tool to sort out negative samples at an earlier stage.