Bacterial infection is one of the most threatening public health
problems of significant social and economic impact. According to
recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports,
from 2009 to 2013, the number of illness cases caused by foodborne
bacterial infection is 29,337. Salmonella spp., Campylobacter
spp. and Escherichia coli (E. coli) are the primary pathogens responsible
for the major foodborne bacterial pathogen outbreaks in
US (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2013, 2014a,
2014b, 2015). The large number of reported outbreaks requires
rapid and sensitive detection methods that can provide fast
screening of samples for microbial contamination.
The most commonly used methods to detect bacteria are the
colony counting assays with analysis of colony forming units
(CFU), immunological assays and polymerase chain reaction (PCR)