A radiometric method for the detection of Salmonella in foods has been
developed which is based on Salmonella poly H agglutinating serum preventing
Salmonella from producing '4C02 from [14C]dulcitol. The method will detect the
presence or absence of Salmonella in a product within 30 h compared to 4 to 5
days by routine culture methods. The method has been evaluated against a
routine culture method using 58 samples of food. The overall agreement was 91%.
Five samples negative for Salmonella by the routine method were positive by the
radiometric method. These may have been false positives. However, the routine
method may have failed to detect Salmonella due to the presence of large
numbers of lactose-fermenting bacteria which hindered isolation of Salmonella
colonies on the selective agar plates.