A Membrane Blotting Procedure for Detection of Salmonella on Chicken Carcasses

Salmonellae attached to artificially contaminated chicken carcasses were identified in less than 24 h using a nitrocellulose membrane lift method. Six pieces of nitrocellulose membrane were pressed onto each chicken carcass at the breast, the thigh, and the back in order to lift the salmonellae from the carcasses. After direct incubation of the membranes on xylose lysine tergitol 4 agar overnight at 37°C, the appearance of black colonies on the white membrane was considered a positive presumptive test for salmonellae. Immunoassay of black colonies on the membrane with Salmonella -specific antiserum confirmed that the black colonies were salmonellae . The nitrocellulose membrane lift technique was shown to be comparable in sensitivity by direct enrichment of whole carcass rinse in selenite cystine broth.