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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Athens, Georgia » U.S. National Poultry Research Center » Poultry Microbiological Safety and Processing Research Unit » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #348104
Research Project: Production and Processing Intervention Strategies for Poultry Associated Foodborne Pathogens

Location: Poultry Microbiological Safety and Processing Research Unit

Title: Lab method used may influence ability to detect Salmonella

Author
item Cox Jr, Nelson
item RICHARDSON, KURT - Anitox Corp
item Cosby, Douglas
item Berrang, Mark

Submitted to: Feedstuffs
Publication Type: Popular Publication
Publication Acceptance Date: 11/18/2017
Publication Date: 12/4/2017
Citation: Cox Jr, N.A., Richardson, K.E., Cosby, D.E., Berrang, M.E. 2017. Lab method used may influence ability to detect Salmonella. Feedstuffs. 8(12).

Interpretive Summary: none

Technical Abstract: Acid injury could prevent detection of Salmonella in feed and feed-type samples. A previous study showed that after incubation in commonly used pre-enrichment media, mixed feeds and feed ingredients reached a pH (4.0 to 5.0), capable of injuring or killing Salmonella. Approximately 10^5 colony forming units (CFU) of S. Enteritidis (SE), S. Heidelberg (SH), S. Kentucky (SK), or S. Typhimurium (ST) were individually placed into 50 mL of a citrate buffer at pH of 4, 4.5, or 5.0 for 6 or 24 h at 37C. After holding at 37C, each serotype was serially diluted in sterile physiological saline and plated onto xylose lysine tergitol 4 [for injury] and nutrient agar (NA) [for death]. These plates were enumerated and percent injury and/or death determined. The injury and death confirmed that pH 4.0 was detrimental to these Salmonella serotypes. Researchers testing feed/feed ingredients for Salmonella may not be aware of the acidic nature of the pre-enrichment step and the subsequent injury or death of any Salmonella present, whether healthy or stressed. Current protocols that are considered the "gold standard" may not be detecting Salmonella in samples containing fermentable substrates and extraneous microorganisms, which prevent the accurate detection of Salmonella. Injury or death of a few Salmonella cells could reduce the chance of recovery from any sample. More research is needed with additional Salmonella serotypes and strains to fully understand the challenges of isolating Salmonella from feed.