David Culak writes:
> I have a microbiololgical question that I hope some of you may help shed
some light on. I understand that E. coli is used as an indicator
orgainism for the presence of various potential pathogens, of which
Salmonella would be a prime example. Would it be common (would you
expect) for a food to have the presence of Salmonella, but no E. coli
???
> This is a situation we have been experiencing in my company i.e. , the
presence of Salmonella in finished product, which has been extensively
tested for E. coli with negative results. We test our finished product
for the presence of both E. coli as well as Salmonella.
Hi David,
I've often wondered how often this happens. It wouldn't be surprising if
the food started out with both E.coli and Salmonella from fecal
contamination. But if the processing and/or storage ends up killing more
E.coli than Salmonella, the the food might become positive for Salmonella
and negative for E.coli.
I'd be interested to hear what others have found. Especially if they used
as low a detection threshhold for E.coli as they use for Salmonella.
Best regards,
George Chang
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