Possibility of using MICROFAST® SALMONELLA COUNT PLATE (SAL) for the detection of Salmonella in poultry meat

Salmonella remains the main cause of toxic infections associated with the consumption of products of animal origin. Poultry, including farm poultry, can be a carrier of Salmonella without clinical signs, therefore poultry meat plays a special role in the occurrence of toxic infections. In the slaughterhouse, when processing such poultry, the surface of the carcasses can be seeded with Salmonella: by washing them off contaminated legs and feathers; by getting the contents of ruptured intestines, crops on carcasses; during the operations of removing feathers and cooling (especially water cooling). Therefore, special attention is paid to the control of the presence of Salmonella in poultry products. A number of nutrient media used for the detection of Salmonella are currently not supplied to the Russian market due to sanctions in connection with the special military operation. However, there are suppliers of nutrient media and diagnostic systems from friendly countries that can be used in microbiological studies to detect Salmonella in food. One such medium is the MicroFast® Salmonella Count Plate (SAL) (P-SAL). P-SAL is a ready-to-use nutrient gel medium containing triphenyltetrazolium chloride as an indicator. In this research, we investigated the possibility of using P-SAL to isolate Salmonella in poultry meat. Minced meat from broiler chicken breasts free of foreign microflora was used as a model sample. During the research, two groups of 25 samples were formed: test samples – contaminated minced meat (25 g of minced meat contained 30-50±0.08 CFU of S.enteritidis); control samples – minced meat not contaminated with S.enteritidis.. Comparative tests of P-SAL and Bismuth Sulfite Agar (BSA) were conducted after selective enrichment of samples. It was found that the use of BSA according to GOST 31468-2012 and P-SAL for the detection of Salmonella in minced meat allows to obtain comparable results. The results of the studies indicate the possibility of using P-SAL to detect Salmonella in poultry meat, which will ensure the possibility of choice and availability of nutrient media when conducting studies on the detection of Salmonella.

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