Rg. Miller et Et. Mallinson, Improved detection of nontyphoid and typhoid salmonellae with balanced agar formulations, J FOOD PROT, 63(10), 2000, pp. 1443-1446
A strategically balanced medium was developed for the improved detection of
nontyphoid and typhoid salmonellae. Its balanced sugar (cellobiose, lactos
e, mannitol, and trehalose) and protein (beef extract and polypeptone pepto
ne) formulation provided Salmonella with a selective growth advantage over
non-Salmonella enteric organisms. The formulations promoted the production
and detection of H2S production levels that otherwise might be missed with
traditional agar formulations. In combination, these advantages contributed
to increased sensitivity without the loss of specificity. In comparative s
tudies using 86 samples of meat products (beef, pork, and chicken), the new
media, Miller-Mallinson (MM) agar and xylose lysine tergitol (Niaproof) 4
agar, possessed significantly higher sensitivity (P < 0.001) and an improve
d specificity over bismuth sulfite, hektoen enteric, and xylose lysine deso
xycholate agars. However, these samples did not contain nontyphoid salmonel
lae with weak to ultraweak H2S production characteristics. Modified formula
tions of MM agar were generally similar to bismuth sulfite and hektoen ente
ric agars in the identification of four of seven globally diverse strains o
f Salmonella serotype Typhi. Two of these seven strains were found to produ
ce more readily identifiable black (H2S-positive) colonies on MM agar, wher
eas one of the seven was not readily detected by any of the media. The impr
oved detection of nontyphoid and typhoid salmonellae attests to the sensiti
vity of MM agar and to its potentially broad utility in both clinical and f
ood quality laboratories.