Detecting Salmonella species in low-moisture foods

Low-moisture foods are often considered products at low-risk in terms of microbial contamination due to a water activity below 0.85. Nevertheless, Enterobacteriaceae are very well-known for their capacity to survive in dry conditions for long periods of time, and that applies to both food products and the production environment.Salmonella species are a prime example and can survive in challenging conditions. The organism has been found to be responsible for several outbreaks in low-moisture foods, such as cocoa, chocolate and milk powder. According to the ISO 6887-1:2017 standard, the current practice for low-moisture foods is to increase the sample size with an appropriate sampling plan and dry pooling.

We offer a number of solutions for the reliable detection of Salmonella in foods and associated sample types; from reference method compliant media in dehydrated or ready to use formats, to alternative methods such as the Thermo Scientific™ Salmonella Precis Method – a 2-day method that uses one broth, one chromogenic agar plate and a single rapid confirmation step, and the Thermo Scientific™ SureTect™ Salmonella species PCR Assay workflow. Please visit the Testing for Salmonella in Foods and Associated Samples page to find information of our complete Salmonella testing portfolio.

The SureTect™ Salmonella PCR Assay workflow is an efficient solution for the relevant sampling plan and dry pooling procedure for low-moisture foods, as advised by the ISO norm. The method has been validated according to ISO 16140-2:2016 (by NF VALIDATION) and AOAC-OMA method validation requirements for testing Salmonella in a broad range of foods, environmental samples, and also large test portions (up to 375 g) of multiple low-moisture foods such as cocoa, chocolate products, milk powders, infant formula, infant cereals and related ingredients. As a further plus, in addition to the usual method comparison and matrix studies, the performance on large test portions of low-moisture foods was also confirmed through a successful collaborative study on 375 g cocoa powders that showed the reproducibility and robustness of SureTect Salmonella PCR Assay method for testing large test portions of low-moisture foods.

See how simple the SureTect PCR System is to use in this short video:

If you would like to find out more about the SureTect PCR System and other targets it’s possible to test for, visit the SureTect PCR System webpage.

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