EVALUATION OF AN ELISA FOR OPTIMIZING THE DETECTION OF SALMONELLAE INSAMPLES FROM POULTRY-PROCESSING PLANTS

The salmonella burden in a variety of samples from poultry processing plants was investigated by normal bacterial culture and art ELISA with the objective of examining the validity of the TRAN-SIA-ELISA for the routine screening of large numbers of samples, All samples were pre-e nriched in peptone water and, for selective enrichment, incubated in b oth Rappaport-Vassiliadis broth and tetrathionate - brilliant green - bile broth. Cultural detection was made by culturing enrichment broths on Rambach and XLD agar plates. The ELISA detection took place after the additional enrichment in M-broth. The ELISA had a sensitivity of 9 8% and a specificity of 93% and was therefore considered as a sufficie ntly valid means for salmonella screening. It is also more efficient a s only ELISA positive samples need to be cultured for confirmation and serotyping. The ELISA method can thus be recommended for quality assu rance shemes, particularly in voluntary salmonella control.