Comparison of molecular typing methods for the differentiation of Salmonella foodborne pathogens

Bacteria belonging to the genus Salmonella are among the leading causes of foodborne disease of bacterial etiology. These bacteria are also widely disseminated throughout the animal kingdom. The ability to identify the food source from which a human pathogen originated would be of great value in reducing the incidence of foodborne disease and the extent of disease outbreaks due to Salmonella. To date, efforts to identify the origin of these pathogens have centered on phenotypic and genotypic characterization of Salmonella isolates. This review focuses molecular or genotypic techniques that are currently being used for typing, and examines their strengths and weaknesses for determining the source of Salmonella foodborne infections.