FISH studies showing the effective application of this technique
for the detection of foodborne bacterial pathogens in their
respective target food matrices are summarized in Table 1. Besides,
many additional studies also evaluated the presence of commensal
bacteria like Lactobacillus spp., Lactococcus spp. or Leuconostoc spp.,
which are found in huge amounts in dairy products and might complicate the search for pathogenic microbes. Aside of meat and dairy products several other food matrices were examined,including fresh produce, fruit juices and alcoholic beverages like
beer and wine. Furthermore, FISH in food microbiology is not restricted to the detection of pathogens, but has also been applied to identify spoilage bacteria, microbes with yet uncertain impact on human health or, in general, to monitor food production