CONFIRMATION OF PRESUMPTIVE SALMONELLA COLONIES BY THE POLYMERASE-CHAIN-REACTION

The potential of a genus-specific polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for the confirmation of Salmonella colonies was evaluated on 209 presumpti ve Salmonella colonies obtained by the standard method ISO 6579. The P CR method employing primers ST11 and ST15 (S. Aabo et al., Mel. Cell. Probes 7:171-178, 1993) gave results identical (100%) to those of the biochemical and serological identification, in terms of discrimination of Salmonella from non-Salmonella strains. PCR could be used directly on the colonies from selective plating media, which allowed a reducti on of the time required for confirmation to a maximum of 6 h.