Relative effectiveness of selenite cystine broth, tetrathionate broth, and rappaport-vassiliadis medium for recovery of Salmonella spp. from raw flesh, highly contaminated foods, and poultry feed: collaborative study

A collaborative study was performed in 18 laboratories to validate use of Rappaport-Vassiliadis (RV) medium in the standard culture method for recovery of Salmonella spp. from raw, highly contaminated foods and poultry feed. RV medium made from its individual ingredients and incubated at 42 degrees C was compared with selenite cystine (SC) broth incubated at 35 degrees C and tetrathionate (TT) broth incubated at 35 degrees and 43 degrees C for effectiveness in recovery of Salmonella spp. Four artificially contaminated foods (oysters, frog legs, mushrooms, and shrimp) and poultry feed and one naturally contaminated food (chicken) were analyzed. The artificially contaminated foods were inoculated with single serovars of Salmonella at target levels of 0.04 colony-forming units (CFU)/g for the low level and 0.4 CFU/g for the high level. For analysis of 1125 test portions, RV medium (42 degrees C) recovered Salmonella from 409 test portions; TT (43 degrees C), from 368 test portions; TT (35 degrees C), from 310 test portions; and SC (35 degrees C), from 334 test portions. Overall, RV medium was comparable with or better than other selective enrichments for recovery of Salmonella from the foods in this study, except mushrooms. From mushrooms, SC broth (35 degrees C) recovered more positive test portions than did RV medium (42 degrees C) and TT broth (43 degrees C). The method for detection of Salmonella in raw, highly contaminated foods and poultry feed using RV medium has been adopted by AOAC INTERNATIONAL. AOAC Official Method 967.25, Salmonella in Foods, Preparation of Culture Media and Reagents, has been revised to include RV medium, and the applicability of AOAC Official Method 967.26, Salmonella in Foods, Detection, has been restricted to processed foods.