Several methods for the rapid and speci
fi
c detection of
Salmonella
in food samples have been described. Here,
we compare 4 of those methods in terms of assay time, procedure complexity, detection limit, sensitivity,
speci
fi
city and accuracy. Milk, eggs and mayonnaise samples were arti
fi
cially contaminated with
Salmonella
enterica
serovar Enteritidis cell concentrations ranging from 1×10
−
2
to 1×10
2
CFU per 25 g or ml of food.
Samples were then pre-enriched and analyzed by either: i) real-time PCR, using the iQ-Check Salmonella
kit; ii) immunocapture, using the RapidChek SELECT Salmonella; iii) a peptide nucleic acid
fl
uorescence
in
situ
hybridization (PNA FISH) method and iv) the traditional bacteriological method ISO 6579:2002. All
methods were able to detect
Salmonella
in the different types of food matrixes and presented a similar detec-
tion level of 1 CFU per 25 g or ml of food sample. The immunocapture and the PNA FISH methods proved to
be very reliable, as their results were 100% in agreement with the ISO method. However, real-time PCR
presented a signi
fi
cant number of false positives, which resulted in a speci
fi
city of 55.6% (CI 95%, 31.3
–
77.6)
and an accuracy of 82.2% (CI 95%, 63.2
–
91.4) for this method. Sensitivity was 100% since no false negative results
were observed. In conclusion, the implementation of these molecular techniques, mainly the immunocapture
and PNA-FISH methods, provides a reliable and less time-consuming alternative for the detection of
Salmonella
spp. in food samples.