Quantification of Salmonella in food samples from India using the MINI-MSRV MPN and modified MINI-MSRV MPN methods.

Salmonella is one of the most important food-borne pathogens. The MINI-MSRV MPN method was modified by replacing the isolation and confirmation of Salmonella on selective chromogenic agar with PCR/RT-PCR. This modification reduced the time for quantification by the MINI-MSRV MPN method by 24 h. Ninety-seven different food samples, comprising chicken, mutton, fish, and sprouts from different markets in Mumbai, India, were analyzed for quantification of Salmonella species by the MINI-MSRV MPN and modified MINI-MSRV MPN methods. Seventy-four percent of the chicken samples were found positive for Salmonella. However, Salmonella was found to be absent in fish, mutton, and sprouts samples. Salmonella load in the chicken sample was in the range of 1.30 to 120 MPN/g. This genotypic confirmation has advantage over variable phenotypic confirmation of pathogens.