Low-moisture foods are often considered products at low-risk in term of microbial contamination due to a water activity below 0.85.

Nevertheless, Enterobacteriaceae are very well-known for their capacity to survive in dry conditions for long periods of time, and that applies to both food products and the production environment.

Salmonella species are a prime example and are able to survive in challenging conditions. The organism has been found to be responsible for several outbreaks in low-moisture foods, such as cocoa, chocolate and milk powder.

According to the ISO 6887-1:2017 standard, the current practice for low-moisture foods is to increase the sample size with an appropriate sampling plan and dry pooling.

The Thermo Scientific™ SureTect™ Salmonella Species PCR Assay workflow is an efficient solution for the relevant sampling plan and dry pooling procedure for low-moisture foods, as advised by the ISO norm.

The SureTect Salmonella Species PCR Assay method has been validated according to ISO 16140-2:2016 (by NF VALIDATION) and AOAC-OMA method validation requirements for testing Salmonella in a broad range of foods, environmental samples, and also large test portions (up to 375 g) of multiple low-moisture foods such as cocoa, chocolate products, milk powders, infant formula, infant cereals and related ingredients.

As a further plus, in addition to the usual method comparison and matrix studies, the performance on large test portions of low-moisture foods was also confirmed through a successful collaborative study on 375 g cocoa powders that showed the reproducibility and robustness of SureTect Salmonella Species PCR Assay method for testing large test portions of low-moisture foods.

To find out more about our complete range of solutions for the detection of Salmonella species in foods and related sample types download our free guide here.

For information about our complete range of solutions for pathogen detection, enumeration of quality indicators, and more visit thermofisher.com/food-microbiology-testing or click on the Request Information button below.