Development of a Phage and PCR assay for the detection of Salmonella in food products

Abstract

The genus Salmonella belongs to the family Enterobacteriaceae and is Gram negative, facultative anaerobic rod-shaped bacteria. Salmonella are the causative agents of salmonellosis, a food-borne infection which may result in severe illness and even death. There are approximately over two thousand two hundred strains of Salmonella but only about ten of these have been implicated in food-borne infections. Foods commonly associated with this bacterial pathogen are poultry, eggs, meat, dairy products, custards, creams and ice-cream, salads and dressings, with meat and poultry being the most important vehicle of transmission for the disease. Outbreaks of these infections occur sporadically throughout the world and arise when contaminated food products are ingested. One such outbreak occurred in Suffolk, United Kingdom when Salmonella enteriditis phage type 34a was isolated from a Chinese restaurant, and was typically found in the egg fried rice (Badrinath et al. 2004).