食品中热损伤沙门氏菌选择性增菌及实时荧光聚合酶链式反应检测

为了能够高效检测食品中的亚致死损伤沙门氏菌,首先采用热激胁迫的方法得到亚致死损伤沙门氏菌细胞,进而基于选择性增菌培养液SEL建立一种实时荧光聚合酶链式反应检测技术。结果表明：在SEL中经过20h增菌培养后,无论是否经过修复培养,1～2CFU/5mL SEL的亚致死损伤细胞都能得到完全修复并增菌至109CFU/mL水平;依此建立的实时荧光聚合酶链式反应检测技术的纯菌扩增效率为95.41%,检测限为4CFU/反应体系,在人工污染碎食品样品中的检测限为3CFU/10g碎牛肉,而且与传统培养检测方法的结果相吻合。本方法在24h内即可完成食品中热损伤沙门氏菌的修复、选择性增菌以及实时荧光聚合酶链式反应检测,可应用于食品中沙门氏菌污染状况调查及高效检测。     

Detection of Salmonella from chicken rinses and chicken hot dogs with the automated BAX PCR system

The BAX system with automated PCR detection was compared with standard cultural procedures for the detection of naturally occurring and spiked Salmonella in 183 chicken carcass rinses and 90 chicken hot dogs. The automated assay procedure consists of overnight growth (16 to 18 h) of the sample in buffered peptone broth at 35 degrees C, transfer of the sample to lysis tubes, incubation and lysis of the cells, transfer of the sample to PCR tubes, and placement of tubes into the cycler-detector, which runs automatically. The automated PCR detection assay takes about 4 h after 16 to 24 h of overnight preenrichment. The culture procedure consists of preerichment, enrichment, plating, and serological confirmation and takes about 72 h. Three trials involving 10 to 31 samples were carried out for each product. Some samples were spiked with Salmonella Typhimurium, Salmonella Heidelberg, Salmonella Montevideo, and Salmonella Enteritidis at 1 to 250 cells per ml of rinse or 1 to 250 cells per g of meat. For unspiked chicken rinses, Salmonella was detected in 2 of 61 samples with the automated system and in 1 of 61 samples with the culture method. Salmonella was recovered from 111 of 122 spiked samples with the automated PCR system and from 113 of 122 spiked samples with the culture method. For chicken hot dogs, Salmonella was detected in all 60 of the spiked samples with both the automated PCR and the culture procedures. For the 30 unspiked samples, Salmonella was recovered from 19 samples with the automated PCR system and from 10 samples with the culture method. The automated PCR system provided reliable Salmonella screening of chicken product samples within 24 h.     

Using a portable real-time PCR assay to detect Salmonella in raw milk

The purpose of this study was to determine the efficacy of a portable real-time PCR system in detecting Salmonella spp. in raw milk. The 200 bulk milk samples chosen for this study constituted a subset of the samples for a larger study; this subset contained 24 samples that were culture positive for Salmonella and 176 that were culture negative. Milk was both plated directly on selective agar and plated after enrichment in selective media. Presumptive Salmonella colonies were isolated by direct culturing of five samples, while Salmonella was isolated from the remaining 19 positive samples only after enrichment. Presumptive Salmonella isolates were serotyped, and isolates from 22 samples were confirmed to be Salmonella isolates. PCR assays of culture-positive milk prior to enrichment yielded no evidence of Salmonella. DNA extracts of bacterial pellets from the enriched samples were analyzed for Salmonella by real-time PCR with the Ruggedized Advanced Pathogen Identification Device (RAPID). Fifty-four samples from the enrichment pellets tested positive for Salmonella by real-time PCR. Two samples that tested positive for Salmonella by culture and serotyping tested Salmonella negative by real-time PCR. Serotyping identified isolates from these samples as Salmonella Montevideo. All DNA extracts of Salmonella Montevideo isolates tested positive for Salmonella by real-time PCR. Thirty-three samples tested negative by culture and positive by real-time PCR. These results indicate that the portable real-time PCR system appears to be a useful tool for detecting Salmonella in raw milk. Additionally, the combination of enrichment and real-time PCR techniques used in this study can yield results in 24 h, compared with the 48 to 72 h required for traditional culture.     

Enrichment and DNA extraction protocols for the simultaneous detection of Salmonella and Listeria monocytogenes in raw sausage meat with multiplex real-time PCR

A novel method of DNA extraction and purification was developed and was used in conjunction with a multiplex real-time PCR assay for the simultaneous detection of Salmonella and Listeria monocytogenes in a raw meat sample. The PCR used primers targeting the invA gene of Salmonella and the hlyA gene of L. monocytogenes, and PCR products were detected with a LightCycler on the basis of fluorescence from SYBR Green and melting temperature. The assay allowed the detection of 3 Listeria cells and 4 Salmonella cells per g of the original sausage within 10 h, including an enrichment period of 6 to 8 h.     

The effect of pre-enrichment protocol on the sensitivity and specificity of PCR for detection of naturally contaminated Salmonella in raw poultry compared to conventional culture

Salmonella spp. are the leading cause of foodborne illness worldwide. Conventional culture techniques for the detection of Salmonella spp. are labor intensive and time consuming. Several rapid detection methods have been developed over the past few years. However, standard methods for sample handling and preparation have not been established and limited data are available on the sensitivity and specificity of these methods for detection of Salmonella in naturally contaminated retail meat. Using culture as the gold standard for Salmonella detection in naturally contaminated raw poultry products, the sensitivity and specificity of a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) detection method was determined under varying enrichment protocols. Chicken meat samples (ground, boneless/skinless breast meat, and bone-in breast meat with skin) from retail grocery stores were pre-enriched in buffered peptone water (BPW) and Salmonella specific primers ST 11 and ST 15 were used to amplify a 429 bp region of random fragment target specific to all Salmonella spp. There was a significant decrease (P-value<0.001) in the sensitivity of the PCR test when BPW pre-enrichment alone (85%) was used compared to the sensitivity achieved after both BPW enrichment and selective enrichment with RV and TT-H (100%). PCR failed to detect any positive samples when no pre-enrichment was conducted. A minimum of 12h pre-enrichment was required for detection of Salmonella by PCR at a limit of 100 colony forming unit (cfu)/1 ml of sample. No detectable amplification product was seen in those naturally contaminated meat samples testing negative by culture methods.     

运用实时荧光PCR法辅助鉴定能力验证样品中的沙门氏菌

目的运用实时荧光PCR法辅助鉴定能力验证样品中的沙门氏菌,以提高检验准确度。方法采用传统的增菌、选择性培养、生化鉴定方法进行样品检验,实时荧光PCR法作为辅助手段对BPW增菌液及可疑菌落进行扩增,最后用API20E鉴定系统对可疑菌落进行确认。结果 3个样品经增菌、选择性培养、生化鉴定后均无显著符合沙门氏菌菌落特征及生化特征的可疑菌落;缓冲蛋白胨水增菌液实时荧光PCR法扩增结果表明样品S02为可疑样品,其分离得到的菌落S02-4有典型扩增曲线;经API20E鉴定系统确认,样品S02为阳性样品,阳性菌为猪霍乱沙门氏菌亚利桑那亚种。结论实时荧光PCR法操作简单,准确度高,可作为传统检验方法的有效补充。     

Rapid detection of stressed Salmonella spp. in dairy and egg products using immunomagnetic separation and PCR

The rapid detection of an average of 5.9 stressed Salmonella cells in 25 g of food product using immunomagnetic separation (IMS) and PCR is described. For pasteurised egg yolk, egg yolk powder, ice-cream, whole egg, egg white and cheeses made from pasteurised milk PCR was applied after 16 h of preenrichment in buffered peptone water (BPW) using IMS and alkaline lysis as sample preparation method. For whole egg and egg white the BPW was supplemented with iron. For milk powder, and raw milk cheeses, the 16-h preenrichment in BPW was followed by IMS and a 4-h enrichment in Rappaport-Vassiliadis broth. In the latter case, PCR was applied on the enrichment medium after centrifugation and alkaline lysis. For PCR the primers ST11 and ST15 (Aabo et al., 1993) producing a fragment of 429 bp were used. An internal PCR control, designed to be co-amplified with the target DNA using the same primers but producing a smaller fragment of 240 bp, was used.     

Validated PCR assay for the routine detection of Salmonella in food

We developed a rapid and reliable PCR assay with genus-specific primers for the detection of Salmonella in food samples. With these primers, no primer-specific amplicons were detected when challenged with cultures of microorganisms other than salmonellae, and positive results, i.e., Salmonella-specific bands, were obtained with pure cultures of all 125 Salmonella isolates tested, which represented 100 serovars. The PCR assay was optimized using both pure cultures and artificially inoculated food samples. The assay results were compared with those of the Australian standard culture methods, using more than 500 "naturally" contaminated food samples, over a period of 9 years. Food samples were subjected to nonselective preenrichment in buffered peptone water followed by selective enrichment in Rappaport Vassiliadis (RV) broth and mannitol selenite cystine (MSC) broth. A simple sample preparation method was developed based on concentrating bacterial cells from 1 ml of RV or MSC broths. The PCR results were in perfect agreement with the results of the standard culture methods; no false-positive or false-negative results were obtained. However, the PCR assay was extremely rapid, and results could be obtained within 4 h of testing of enrichment broths.     

肉及肉制品中沙门氏菌活细胞的PCR检测研究

将荧光染料叠氮溴化丙锭(propidium monoazide,PMA)与普通聚合酶链式反应(polymerase chain reaction,PCR)结合,通过对PMA的曝光时间、浓度进行优化,确定PMA-PCR区别死活细胞的最佳条件,并制作活细胞定量标准曲线,建立肉及肉制品中沙门氏菌活细胞的PMA-PCR检测方法。结果表明：使插入死细胞DNA中的PMA活化并且光解溶液中游离PMA的最佳曝光时间为15min;不抑制沙门氏菌活细胞DNA扩增的最大PMA质量浓度为10μg/mL;完全抑制热致死细胞DNA扩增的最小PMA质量浓度为4μg/mL。经PMA处理,含有不同比例的沙门氏菌热致死细胞和活细胞的混合液中活的沙门氏菌能够通过PCR被选择性的检测,最小检测限为20CFU/PCR。而且,经研究发现在20～2×105CFU/PCR范围内,电泳条带相对荧光强度与活细胞数的对数具有线性关系。采集30份肉及肉制品样品,利用PMA-PCR方法检测出两份生肉样品中存在沙门氏菌,经过6h的富集培养后的活菌浓度分别为2.5×103CFU/mL和3.4×103CFU/mL。     

Primers specific for the fimbrial major subunit gene stdA can be used to detect Salmonella enterica serovars

The feasibility of using two primers internal to the stdA gene (which encodes the fimbrial major subunit of the std fimbrial gene cluster in Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi) to detect Salmonella by PCR was explored. The 518-bp stdA specific sequence was conserved among 268 strains from 45 serovars of S. enterica. One Salmonella bongori CCUG 30042 strain and 34 non-Salmonella strains did not possess this sequence. A sensitivity test revealed that the stdA-specific primer set detected 3.4 x 10(-1) pg of genomic DNA and 3.0 x 10(5) CFU/ml with serial dilutions of Salmonella Typhimurium cells. In vitro testing for specificity using pig carcass sponge samples contaminated with Salmonella Typhimurium also was performed. An initial Salmonella Typhimurium inoculum of 4.4 x 10(1) CFU/ml in pig carcass exudates reached the stdA primer detection level after preenrichment in buffered peptone water at 37 degrees C for 18 h in the presence of indigenous non-Salmonella flora at 4.0 X 10(7) CFU/ml, but the detection level decreased to 4.4 x 10(0) CFU/ml after selective enrichment in Rappaport-Vassiliadis R10 broth for 18 h at 42 degrees C. The PCR method with primers specific for stdA is a quick and sensitive tool for detecting S. enterica, which is an important cause of foodborne disease.     

Detection of low numbers of healthy and sub-lethally injured Salmonella enterica in chocolate

The capacity to detect low levels of healthy and sub-lethally injured Salmonella enterica cells in chocolate by two alternative rapid detection methods iQ-Check(TM)Salmonella II real-time PCR (Bio-Rad) and VIDAS? Easy SLM (BioMérieux) was assessed and compared with ISO 6579:2005. Chocolate, a low moisture food known to support the survival of Salmonella, was challenged as food matrix. Buffered peptone water (BPW) did not support the recovery of low levels of sub-lethally injured S. enterica independent of the detection method, while BPW supplemented with milk powder enabled detection by the three examined methods. However, inhibition of real-time PCR was observed since for one out of three repetitions of chocolate inoculated with a low number of sub-lethally injured S. enterica cells, no PCR signal was obtained. Therefore, attention should be paid to the enrichment step to avoid false negative results due to the presence of especially sub-lethally injured Salmonella cells in chocolate. An appropriate sample preparation (such as enrichment media and conditions for incubation) remains the key factor for reliable detection including sub-lethally injured cells and should be evaluated, if necessary optimized, for each detection assay.     

Evaluation of universal preenrichment broth for growth of heat-injured pathogens.

Universal preenrichment broth (UPB) was developed to enable enrichment of injured foodborne pathogens of different genera simultaneously in lieu of having to undergo separate simultaneous enrichment cultures for subsequent detection or isolation of each pathogen. Enrichment conditions in UPB for growth of injured pathogens to populations that will enable pathogen detection by rapid immuno-based or polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based assays have not been defined. Hence, studies were done to determine recovery and growth rates of heat-injured Escherichia coli O157:H7, Salmonella enterica ser. Typhimurium, Salmonella enterica ser. Enteritidis. and Listeria monocytogenes in UPB. Bacterial cells were heat injured in tryptic phosphate broth at 57.2 degrees C and inoculated at populations of ca. 0.17 to 63 injured cells per ml with raw ground beef, fresh chicken, lettuce, and environmental sponge samples. Enrichment cultures were sampled at 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 24 h at 37 degrees C postinoculation, and pathogens were enumerated on appropriate selective media. Results revealed that recovery and growth of pathogens during the first 6 h of enrichment were not sufficient to ensure adequate numbers of bacteria (> 10(3) CFU/ ml) for detection by most immunoassays or PCR assays. Cells often required 3 to 4 h for recovery before growth was initiated. Salmonella Typhimurium, Salmonella Enteritidis, E. coli O157:H7, or L. monocytogenes cell populations in enrichment cultures with ground beef or lettuce at 6 h were 0.5 to 2.9 log10 CFU/ml. At 24 h of incubation, cell counts of enrichment samples for the three pathogens from all food and environmental sponge samples ranged from 4.0 to 8.3 log10 CFU/ml. Enrichment in UPB at 37 degrees C of foods or environmental sponge samples containing heat-injured cells of Salmonella Typhimurium, Salmonella Enteritidis, E. coli O157:H7, or L. monocytogenes reliably provides at 24 h of incubation-but not at 6 h-sufficient cell populations for detection by rapid immunoassay or PCR assay procedures that can detect at least 4 log10 CFU/ml. These results raise questions regarding the sensitivity of rapid detection methods that employ an abbreviated enrichment protocol of 6 h or less.     

Simulation model for enumeration of Salmonella on chicken as a function of PCR detection time score and sample size: implications for risk assessment

A data gap commonly identified in risk assessments is the lack of quantitative information on the contamination of food with pathogens. A simulation model that predicts the incidence and distribution of Salmonella contamination on chicken as a function of PCR detection time score and sample size was developed with data from challenge studies with preenrichment samples that were composed of 25 g of chicken and 225 ml of buffered peptone water inoculated with 10(0.7) to 10(6) Salmonella and incubated at 37 degrees C. At 0, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, and 24 h of incubation, subsamples were collected and tested for Salmonella by PCR, and a PCR detection time score based on the widths of the bands in the electrophoresis gel was obtained for each preenrichment sample. Standard curves relating PCR detection time score to initial density of Salmonella inoculated were developed for sterile and nonsterile preenrichment samples. Presence of other microorganisms in the preenrichment sample decreased the PCR detection time score at low (<10(2) per 25 g) but not at high (>10(2) per 25 g) initial densities of Salmonella and resulted in a nonlinear standard curve rather than the linear standard curve obtained for sterile samples. The predicted incidence and distribution of Salmonella contamination on chicken increased in a nonlinear manner as sample size increased from 25 to 500 g. The new method reduced the time and cost of Salmonella enumeration by eliminating the selective enrichment, selective plating, and confirmation steps of the traditional most-probable-number method. Results are useful for risk assessment because they consider the uncertainty of the standard curve predictions and because they provide distributions of Salmonella contamination for different size samples of chicken that can be directly used in risk assessment.     

Application of nested polymerase chain reaction to detection of Salmonella in poultry environment

Isolation of Salmonella from environmental and processing-plant poultry samples requires the sampling of large numbers of areas within the poultry house or plant. Subsequently, the required number of samples necessitates a large volume of work for a microbiology laboratory, especially when the protocol requires the inclusion of a delayed secondary enrichment for the isolation of Salmonella. This study examined the use of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to identify those secondary enrichments containing Salmonella. The unique Salmonella virulence gene invA was chosen as the target for the development of a nested PCR because of its uniform distribution among Salmonella serotypes. The use of nested PCR primers increased the sensitivity of detection 100-fold, resulting in the detection of as few as four cells. There was a strong, statistically significant positive correlation between PCR and culture results as determined by chi-square (P < 0.001) and kappa (kappa = 0.915; excellent agreement) tests. Using PCR to screen primary enrichments for presumptive Salmonella contamination, we improved our efficiency at isolating Salmonella upon secondary enrichment by 20%, and no false negatives were observed. This method will not only validate the use of secondary enrichment procedures but also reduce costs and manpower required for the surveillance of Salmonella.     

Multicenter validation study of two blockcycler- and one capillary-based real-time PCR methods for the detection of Salmonella in milk powder

A collaborative study including 13 German laboratories was conducted to evaluate the performance of two non-patented real-time PCR methods for the detection of Salmonella in milk powder targeting the ttrC/ttrA- or the invA gene. The enrichment procedure and sample DNA preparation method prior to the real-time PCR was the same for both systems and the identical DNA extraction samples were analysed. The traditional cultural method according to EN ISO 6579:2002 for the detection of Salmonella in food was performed in each laboratory as the reference. The participants received twelve coded milk powder samples each of 25 g for the analysis. Four of them were Salmonella negative (level L0), four artificially contaminated with <3 MPN/g Salmonella Typhimurium (level L1) and four artificially contaminated with 3.6 MPN/g S. Typhimurium (level L2) to the beginning of the experiment. Of the 13 laboratories 12 used various models of real-time PCR blockcyclers conducting both real-time PCR assays and three laboratories the Light Cycler 2.0 system (Roche Bioscience) conducting the ttr-based real-time PCR assay only. The relative accuracy for both real-time PCR assays performed on blockcyclers was for level L0 97.5%. For level L1 the relative accuracy was 94.1% and for level L2 it was 100% for both assays. The relative accuracy on the Light Cycler 2.0 system was 100% for all levels applied to the ttr-real-time PCR.     

TaqMan实时荧光PCR对沙门氏菌能力验证样品的快速检测与鉴定

本研究依据GB 4789.4-2016标准对沙门氏菌ACAS-PT526能力验证样品进行常规培养法检测,同时使用TaqMan实时荧光聚合酶链反应（polymerase chain reaction,PCR）技术对预增菌培养物进行快速检测和鉴定。本研究首先以沙门氏菌特异性基因hut基因为靶基因,设计合成特异性引物和探针,提取各类食源性菌种的核酸DNA进行实时荧光PCR反应,仅沙门氏菌属出现阳性扩增,非沙门氏菌属、阴性对照和空白对照均无扩增信号,验证设计合成的引物探针具有较高的特异性。其次将能力验证样品和加标样品经预增菌、增菌、分离、纯化、生化试验和血清学鉴定,同时将预增菌培养物经实时荧光PCR测定后,18-D319和加标样品有显著的S型扩增曲线,Ct值分别为24.34和26.21,为沙门氏菌阳性,18-M906无显著荧光信号,Ct值>40.00,为沙门氏菌阴性。经API20E试剂条鉴定,18-D319为猪霍乱沙门菌亚利桑那亚种,鉴定百分率为99.90%,T值为0.97,18-M906为大肠埃希氏菌,鉴定百分率为99.80%,T值为0.94。实时荧光PCR检测结果与常规培养法检测结果一致,且更为简单快速,从预增菌到结果判定仅需12 h,结果准确度高,一批次可检测多个样品,可用于大量样品中沙门氏菌的快速筛查和对能力验证样品的检测验证。     

速冻食品中沙门氏菌和金黄色葡萄球菌多重PCR检测方法的建立与应用

为实现速冻食品中沙门氏菌(Salmonella spp.)和金黄色葡萄球菌(Staphylococcus aureus)的多重聚合酶链式反应(PCR)检测,首先优化多重PCR扩增的反应条件,比较基因组DNA提取方法,结果表明：退火温度采用60℃、各引物浓度200nmol/L及扩增循环35次,本多重PCR检测技术可以有效地将沙门氏菌和金黄色葡萄球菌同时检出,检测特异性为100%。3种DNA提取方法中试剂盒法纯度最高,检出限分别是31、26DNA copies/reaction。经过在人工污染致病菌的速冻水饺中应用试验后,该多重PCR方法经过4h的增菌培养即可从速冻水饺中同时检测出起始菌落数低至100CFU/g的沙门氏菌和金黄色葡萄球菌。     

Detection of viable Salmonella in lettuce by propidium monoazide real-time PCR

Contamination of lettuce by Salmonella has caused serious public health problems. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) allows rapid detection of pathogenic bacteria in food, but it is inaccurate as it might amplify DNA from dead target cells as well. This study aimed to investigate the stability of DNA of dead Salmonella cells in lettuce and to develop an approach to detecting viable Salmonella in lettuce. Salmonella-free lettuce was inoculated with heat-killed Salmonella Typhimurium cells and stored at 4 °C. Bacterial DNA extracted from the sample was amplified by real-time PCR targeting the invA gene. Our results indicate that DNA from the dead cells remained stable in lettuce for at least 8 d. To overcome this limitation, propidium monoazide (PMA), a dye that can selectively penetrate dead bacterial cells and cross-link their DNA upon light exposure, was combined with real-time PCR. Lettuce samples inoculated with different levels of dead or viable S. Typhimurium cells were treated or untreated with PMA before DNA extraction. Real-time PCR suggests that PMA treatment effectively prevented PCR amplification from as high as 10(8) CFU/g dead S. Typhimurium cells in lettuce. The PMA real-time PCR assay could detect viable Salmonella at as low as 10(2) CFU/mL in pure culture and 10(3) CFU/g in lettuce. With 12-h enrichment, S. Typhimurium of 10(1) CFU/g in lettuce was detectable. In conclusion, the PMA real-time PCR assay provides an alternative to real-time PCR assay for accurate detection of Salmonella in food.     

Sequencing of an internal transcribed spacer region of 16S-23S rRNA gene and designing of PCR primers for the detection of Salmonella spp. in food

DNA sequences of an internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region for 40 Salmonella serovars were determined and compared with ITS sequences of Salmonella spp., and non-Salmonella spp. already available on the GenBank database. From such comparison, two Salmonella-specific ITS based PCR primers, ITSF and ITSR, were designed. When Salmonella strains with various serotypes were PCR assayed with primers ITSF/ITSR, all generated PCR products with molecular weight bands equal to 312 bp. On the other hand, 48 non-Salmonella isolates, including strains of Enterobacteriaceae and other food pathogens generated negative results. Detection limits of this PCR method was 1-9 CFU per assay. These PCR primers were used for the detection of Salmonella cells in artificially contaminated foods, including chicken meat and whole milk. The detection limit was 1-9 x 10(3) CFU per assay. With an 8-h enrichment step performed prior to the PCR assay, however, the detection limit became 1-9 CFU per gram of the food sample.     

PCR amplification of the Salmonella typhimurium fimY gene sequence to detect the Salmonella species

This study evaluated the suitability of fimY gene amplification by PCR as an effective means of detecting Salmonella species. Although fimY gene of Salmonella typhimurium is involved in regulating type 1 fimbrial expression, the amino acid sequence of FimY shares very little homology with other known prokaryotic proteins in the GenBank database. Therefore, fimY is a promising target gene to detect the presence of Salmonella species. Herein, two primers internal to the fimY gene of S. typhimurium are used to investigate the distribution of the fimY homologous sequence among 45 Salmonella serovars and 20 non-Salmonella species by using PCR. Experimental results indicated that only Salmonella species possessed the fimY homologous sequence, subsequently generating the specific 526-bp DNA fragments. The sensitivity of the fmY-specific primer set was demonstrated on a Salmonella-free swab sample from a pork carcass surface, which was then artificially contaminated with different concentrations of S. typhimurium. A combining of pre-enrichment step in buffered peptone water and PCR amplification of fimY allowed the detection of S. typhimurium at the concentration of 3.4 x 10(0) CFU/ml from the swab sample. With an additional enrichment step in Rappaport-Vassiliadis (RV) broth, this procedure can also detect pork carcass surface naturally contaminated with Salmonella species in a slaughterhouse. Results in this study demonstrate that fimY is unique to Salmonella species and is an appropriate PCR target for detecting these microorganisms.