Salmonella is one of the most important bacterial pathogens responsible for many zoonotic food-related infectious diseases. Quantitative detection of the foodborne Salmonella contamination in various food sources is therefore critical for preventing the related disease outbreaks. In this study, we developed and evaluated a reliable real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assay to detect the Salmonella contamination quantitatively. The experimental results showed that our invA gene-specific quantitative RT-PCR (qRT-PCR) assay provides a strong correlation between the Cq values and the direct plate counts of Salmonella species in the artificially formulated samples. Further study may be necessary to identify more accurate correlation and equation that can apply to Salmonella spp.

• Yewon Cheong(College of Veterinary Medicine & Institute of Veterinary Science, Kangwon National University)
• Ji Seung Jung(College of Veterinary Medicine & Institute of Veterinary Science, Kangwon National University)
• Won Jae Lee(College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Kangwon National University)
• Jun Bong Lee(College of Veterinary Medicine & Institute of Veterinary Science, Kangwon National University)
• Jang Won Yoon(College of Veterinary Medicine & Institute of Veterinary Science, Kangwon National University) Corresponding Author