In-House Validation Study of the DuPont Qualicon BAX (R) System Q7 Instrument with the BAX System PCR Assay for Salmonella (Modification of AOAC Official Method(SM) 2003.09 and AOAC Research Institute Performance-Tested Method(SM) 100201)

In 2006, DuPont Qualicon introduced the BAX (R) system Q7 instrument for use with its assays. To demonstrate the equivalence of the new and old instruments, a validation study was conducted using the BAX system PCR Assay for Salmonella, AOAC Official Methods(SM) 2003.09, on three food types. The foods were simultaneously analyzed with the BAX system Q7 instrument and either the U.S. Food and Drug Administration Bacteriological Analytical Manual or the U.S. Department of Agriculture-Food Safety and Inspection Service Microbiology Laboratory Guidebook reference method for detecting Salmonella. Comparable performance between the BAX system and the reference methods was observed. Of the 75 paired samples analyzed, 39 samples were positive by both the BAX system and reference methods, and 36 samples were negative by both the BAX system and reference methods, demonstrating 100% correlation. Inclusivity and exclusivity for the BAX system Q7 instrument were also established by testing 50 Salmonella strains and 20 non-Salmonella isolates. All Salmonella strains returned positive results, and all non-Salmonella isolates returned a negative response.