Identification of colonies of cultured shellfish-associated Arcobacter species by Elastic Light Scatter Analysis.

An increasing number of species (including several regarded as emerging human foodborne pathogens) have been isolated from shellfish, an important food commodity. A method to distinguish these species and render viable isolates for further analysis would benefit epidemiological and ecological studies. We describe a method based on Elastic Light Scatter analysis (ELSA) for the detection and discrimination of eleven shellfish-associated species. Although substantive differences in the growth rates of some taxa were seen, ELSA was able to differentiate all the species studied, apart from some strains of and , which were nonetheless distinguished from all other species examined. ELSA appears to be a promising new approach for the detection and identification of species in shellfish and may also be applicable for studies in other foods and matrices.