resulting in 1Æ1 million deaths (Vu et al. 2004). Thus,
rapid and specific methods to detect these five pathogens
are necessary.
Traditional detection methods depend upon selective
cultivation techniques combined with standard biochemical
identifications. These methods are time-consuming
and laborious and introduce sampling and enumeration
errors, as these pathogenic bacteria occur in low numbers.
In fact, the low-throughput of these traditional
methods does not allow rapid screening of large numbers
of food samples for the presence of one or more
pathogens (Abubakar et al. 2007). In the last 10 years,
rapid nucleic acid amplification and detection technologies
have been increasingly applied to pathogen detection
in food industry. Recently, the real-time polymerase
chain reaction has successfully been performed to identify
pathogens in various food products. However, these
methods are not only very expensive for routine use in
common testing laboratories, but also limited to two or
three different types of pathogenic bacteria per detection
assay (Wang et al. 2007; Elizaquı´vel and Aznar 2008;
Suo et al. 2010). In fact, the real-time PCR approach is
still uncommon. Multiplex PCR simultaneously detecting
several pathogens in a single-tube reaction has the
potential of saving time and effort, lowering testingrelated
laboratory costs (Perry et al. 2007). The objective
of the present study was to develop a reliable and effective
multiplex PCR assay to simultaneously detect five
different foodborne pathogens (Staph. aureus, L. monocytogenes,
E. coli O157:H7, Salm. enterica and Sh. flexneri).
The application and efficacy of this method for
pathogen detection were also evaluated in meat products.