DNA-BASED TYPING, IDENTIFICATION AND DETECTION SYSTEMS FOR FOOD SPOILAGE MICROORGANISMS - DEVELOPMENT AND IMPLEMENTATION

The rapid identification of spoilage microorganisms is of eminent impo rtance to the food industry. It provides the food industry with the op portunity to reduce economical losses by designing adequate interventi on measures. The use of identification systems based on biochemical an d physiological characteristics resulted often in disappointing identi fication results and misidentifications. This will inevitably lead to inappropriate strategies to prevent spoilage. This review discusses th e potential of the DNA based identification technology including the p olymerase chain reaction (PCR) for the identification and specific det ection of microorganisms. Fingerprinting methods based on the DNA-prob e technology enable a clear insight in the identity of microorganisms on different levels, varying from genus to strain level depending on t he systems used. Discrimination between subspecies and strain level is shown to be helpful for investigating routes and sources of contamina tion. Differentiation at the species level is demonstrated to be essen tial in order to design a highly specific detection system enabling to signalize a microorganism that belongs to a particular species. Also indicated in this review is the necessity and the technical approach t o detect microorganisms that display a particular undesirable trait.