Salmonella serogroup detection in poultry meat samples by examining multiple colonies from selective plates of two standard culture methods.

This study aims to determine the serogroup profiles of randomly collected 46 chicken meat and 15 turkey meat samples, following the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) Bacteriological Analytical Manual Chapter 5: Salmonella and International Organization for Standardization (ISO) Method 6579 culture methods. The total number of poultry meat samples with more than one serogroup isolated by the FDA and ISO culture methods were 10 (37.0%) and 21 (77.8%) of 27, respectively. Presence of multiple serogroups per sample was more frequently observed in chicken meat samples than in turkey meat samples. The profile of Salmonella serogroup isolates of chicken meat samples in descending order were serogroups D and E4 (15.8%), B and C2 (8.8%), C1 (5.3%), G (3.5%), and E1 and F (1.7%). The serogroup distribution of turkey meat sample isolates were serogroups B (27.2%), E4 (18.2%), and C2 (9.1%). On the basis of our findings that a selective plate in Salmonella culture method can harbor more than one serogroup, and that the FDA and ISO methods could detect different serogroups from chicken and turkey meats, we suggest screening multiple suspect colonies from each plate, if possible, and considering the collective and comparative use of the FDA and ISO culture methods and/or including several selective and differential media to ensure the detection of Salmonella and the possible detection of multiple serogroups from samples.