Multiplexed detection of foodborne pathogens based on magnetic particles.

This paper addresses the novel approaches for the multiplex detection of food poisoning bacteria, paying closer attention to three of the most common pathogens involved in food outbreaks: Salmonella enterica, Escherichia coli O157:H7 and Listeria monocytogenes. End-point and real-time PCR, classical immunological techniques, biosensors, microarrays and microfluidic platforms, as well as commercial kits for multiplex detection of food pathogens will be reviewed, with special focus on the role of magnetic particles in these approaches. Although the immunomagnetic separation for capturing single bacteria from contaminating microflora and interfering food components has demonstrated to improve the performance on these approaches, the integration of magnetic particles for multiplex detection of bacteria is still in a preliminary stage and requires further studies.