Comparative analysis of alternative and standardized microbiological diagnostic methods used in food expertise

For the comparative analysis of the results of the alternative and the standardized reference methods used in microbiological food testing, we tested 7761 samples for the detection of foodborne pathogens (Salmonella spp., Listeria spp., Campylobacter spp) and 5123 samples for the detection of quality indicators (Coagulase Positive Staphylococcus, Escherichia coli, Enterobacteriaceae, Total Aerobic Germs, Yeasts and Molds), using Mini Vidas equipment and TEMPO, respectively. Non-compliant samples resulting from food screening by alternative methods were subsequently tested by standardized reference methods to establish the correlation of the results. It has been found that fast alternative diagnostic methods used to detect food pathogens generate results equivalent to those of standardized reference methods, and rapid diagnostic alternative methods for detecting quality indicators generate results with a correlation of 98.38%. The bacterial identification achieved by comparative use of the alternative and the reference methods, namely Vitek 2 Compact and Kaufmann-White, may show differences in the obtained results, the correlation being for the Salmonella genus of 77.8%, and, in the case of Listeria genus, 100%.