The use of a PCR-generated invA probe for the detection of Salmonella spp. in artificially and naturally contaminated foods

Part of the invasion A gene (invA) of salmonellae (Rahn et al., 1992) was amplified and labelled simultaneously with digoxigenin by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR). This was used as gene probe for a colony hybridization assay which included nitrocellulose filter incubation on modified Rambach agar. 312 Salmonella and 268 non-Salmonella strains were hybridized with the invA probe. No false-negative or false-positive results were obtained. In 11 beef samples, which had been contaminated artificially with Salmonella, the test strain was recovered quantitatively with the invA probe. Salmonellae could be detected in 29 samples of 104 further foods of animal origin by means of the gene probe assay in contrast to 27 samples which were positive by the standard method. The invA probe assay allows for the quantitative estimation of Salmonella in fresh meat samples within 48 h. However, with frozen samples a pre-enrichment step is necessary.