Research note: detection of Salmonella in minced meat by the polymerase chain reaction method.

A specific PCR assay was used to detect Salmonella in enriched broths of 48 natural samples of minced pork and 48 natural samples of minced beef. By comparison with a routine culture method, the sensitivity of the PCR method was estimated to be 92% and the specificity of the PCR method was estimated to be 99%. The sensitivity of the culture method was estimated to be 50% in this study.