High-throughput quantification of salmonella and listeria

The goal of the project is to develop, standardise and test time-saving molecular methods for the quantification of certain pathogens in food. By using a faster method of analysis compared to conventional methods, contaminated food could be identified earlier, even before leaving the plant, and its delivery to the market could be prevented.

The European Commission is considering quantitative risk-assessment as a way of handling the risk of contaminated food. Therefore a sensitive quantitative methodology is needed to effectively demonstrate the presence of food pathogens like salmonella or listeria monocytogenes and to determine its numbers in food.