Abstract
The LUMAC PATH-STIK Rapid Salmonella Test is based on a dip stick enzyme immunoassay for detection of Salmonella antigens in food. The dip stick is composed of a membrane fitted on a plastic strip. On the bottom part of the membrane, a small line is coated with highly specific anti-Salmonella antibodies. Two colored lines develop when Salmonella is present in the enrichment culture and only one line in the absence of the organism. The PATH-STIK was tested for the detection limit of Salmonella and compared with the culture procedure for detection of Salmonella in commercial raw chicken. The detection limit of the assay is 104cfu/ml in pure culture and the assay of the preenrichment with EEM broth and enrichment with selenite broth detected Salmonella at a low concentration (under 10cfu/25g) in raw meat. In 98 specimens of commercial raw chicken including the viscera, the correlation between this assay and the traditional culture method was 87.8%, with a false positive rate of 6.0%, and false negative rate of 6.0%. The correlation was not high for the positive specimens, but the dip-stick was a rapid screening test not requiring a pipette or washing step that are necessary in traditional ELISA's. The protocol took only 20 minutes until the end results were available. The assay was found to be a rapid screening method for detection of Salmonella in food.
