Dilution of inoculated whole egg contents with buffered peptone water broth or tetrathionate broth at various ratios increased the number of SE well above the detection limit of the test panel kit after incubating for 24 h at 37 jC. The optimum results after 24 h enrichment with the panel kit were accomplished when the inoculated whole egg mixtures were incubated in BPW at 1:10 ratio without further dilution with PBS after 24 h enrichment (Table 4). However, we found that when BPW was used, a slight, but potentially problematic, reaction occurred in samples inoculated with SK or ST when 24 h (very faint positive) and 48 (weak positive) incubation at 37 jC were applied (Table 5) No false positive samples were observed when TBG was used instead of BPW after 24 and 48 h incubation, respectively (Table 5). Therefore, TBG appears superior to BPW in terms of specificity. This detection was diminished if the tetrathionate samples were shaken while dramatically enhanced if the samples were autoclaved prior to application to the panel (Data not shown). The presence of the two other Salmonella serovars in the mix along with SE did not diminish the detection of the SE (data not shown).