9. Strengths and weaknesses of FISH with regard to other
detection methods
For the implementation of FISH in the routine monitoring of
food safety, specificity, sensitivity, test speed, the potential for highthroughput
testing and economical feasibility represent major
characteristics. summarizes the features of FISH compared
to PCR, presumably the most notable rapid molecular technique,
and the traditional detection via cultivation. Other rapid techniques
which can be also used for the detection of pathogenic bacteria in
food comprise various immunological methods, biosensors or the
use of microarrays Although these techniques may be
more robust and are less influenced by the food matrix and some of
them have considerable potential for the simultaneous detection of
multiple pathogens, they usually possess higher thresholds for a
reliable detection, might be less specific and show a higher degree
of cross-reactivity compared to PCR Furthermore, comprehensive data on the evaluation
of these techniques are not yet available in an equivalent extent,
which is why they were not considered in our comparison.