Location: Nutrition, Food Safety/Quality
Project Number: 0204-41510-001-109-I
Project Type: Interagency Reimbursable Agreement
Start Date: Apr 1, 2026
End Date: Sep 30, 2027
Objective:
Use six months of FSIS Salmonella-positive samples to provide performance assessments for four Salmonella quantification methods and Highly Pathogenic Salmonella (HPS) prevalence to identify the most robust Salmonella detection approach for real-world FSIS monitoring and process control for the industry.
Approach:
Evaluate 6 months of Salmonella FSIS positive samples for quantitative Salmonella and presence of HPS.
• Quantification: Assess the level of Salmonella in FSIS Salmonella positive samples from unenriched chicken, turkey, pork, and beef samples using these four Salmonella quantification methodologies: BioMérieux Gene-Up Quant, Hygiena BAX SalQuant, Neogen MDA2 Quantitative Salmonella, and ARS 1-tube threshold with MPN as the reference method.
• Pathogenicity: Hygiena RT-HPS assay developed in collaboration with ARS to determine frequency of high-risk Salmonella strains in FSIS Salmonella positive samples from enriched chicken, turkey, pork, and beef samples and frequency isolates match the HPS type.