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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Athens, Georgia » U.S. National Poultry Research Center » Poultry Microbiological Safety and Processing Research Unit » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #357947
Research Project: Production and Processing Intervention Strategies for Poultry Associated Foodborne Pathogens

Location: Poultry Microbiological Safety and Processing Research Unit

Title: Comparison of two commercially available rapid detection methods and a conventional cultural method to detect naturally occurring salmonellae on broiler carcasses

Author
item Cosby, Douglas
item Cox Jr, Nelson
item Berrang, Mark
item House, Sandra
item Line, John
item Frye, Jonathan
item Jackson, Charlene
item Hinton Jr, Arthur

Submitted to: Journal of Food Safety
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 8/12/2019
Publication Date: 12/1/2019
Citation: Cosby, D.E., Cox Jr, N.A., Berrang, M.E., House, S.L., Line, J.E., Frye, J.G., Jackson, C.R., Hinton Jr, A. 2019. Comparison of two commercially available rapid detection methods and a conventional cultural method to detect naturally occurring salmonellae on broiler carcasses. Journal of Food Safety. 39:e12702. https://doi.org/10.1111/jfs.12702.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/jfs.12702

Interpretive Summary: Detection of Salmonella on commercially processed broiler carcasses is of great importance in reducing incidences of human salmonellosis. The current study was designed to compare two commercially available molecular screening methods to the standard regulatory procedure. According to the results of this study, there was no difference in the three methods for determining if Salmonella was present in the carcass rinses sampled. The ability of all three methods to detect naturally occurring Salmonella provides the poultry industry and regulatory agencies more tools to increase the safety of poultry products available to the consumer.

Technical Abstract: Detection of Salmonella on commercially processed broiler carcasses is essential to reduce the incidences of human salmonellosis. This study was designed to compare the standard procedure for Salmonella detection to two commercial screening methods. During seven separate visits to two processing plants, eight carcasses were obtained (n=112). Each carcass was rinsed and the rinsate processed according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Food Safety and Inspection Service(FSIS) protocol. Predetermined aliquots of rinsates were screened on the BAX® and Roka® instruments according to manufacturer’s protocol and analyzed using the USDA, FSIS cultural method. Four Salmonella-like colonies from presumptive positive rinsates were selected, screened biochemically and serologically confirmed as Salmonella. Results indicated Salmonella was recovered from 15.2% (17/112), 14.3% (16/112) and 12.5% (14/112) of carcasses by cultural methods, BAX and Roka analysis, respectively. These findings indicate that both rapid, molecular methods tested were as effective as the conventional cultural procedure in detecting Salmonella from broiler carcass rinsates.