3. Limits of rapid food microbiology methods

Despite the recent introduction of rapid methods in food microbiology, we have witnessed a veritable explosion in these tests over the last ten years. For salmonella, for example, over 20 rapid detection kits are available. Everyone agrees that these rapid methods are often more sensitive and specific than traditional methods. These tests often take less than 4 hours to perform. However, the adjective "rapid" is sometimes misused. In fact, these methods cannot be used directly on the food. It is almost always necessary to carry out a traditional enrichment phase to selectively increase the target pathogenic bacteria, and this step takes time. Rapid methods always follow this phase. As a result, the actual food analysis time is often 1 to 2 days; certainly shorter than when using the traditional method. These new rapid methods require national or international validation before they can be...