Applications and Limitations of Rapid Methods

Almost all rapid methods are designed to detect a single target, which makes them ideal for use in quality control programs to quickly screen large numbers of food samples for the presence of a particular pathogen or toxin. A positive result by a rapid method however, is only regarded as presumptive and must be confirmed by standard methods. Although confirmation may extend analysis by several days, this may not be an imposing limitation, as negative results are most often encountered in food analysis.

Most rapid methods can be done in a few minutes to a few hours, so they are more rapid than traditional methods. But, in food analysis, rapid methods still lack sufficient sensitivity and specificity for direct testing; hence, foods still need to be culture-enriched before analysis. Although enrichment is a limitation in terms of assay speed, it provides essential benefits, such as diluting the effects of inhibitors, allowing the differentiation of viable from non-viable cells and allowing for repair of cell stress or injury that may have resulted during food processing.

Evaluations of rapid methods show that some perform better in some foods than others. This can be attributed mostly to interference by food components, some of which can be especially troublesome for the technologies used in rapid methods. For example, an ingredient can inhibit DNA hybridization or Taq polymerase, but has no effect on antigen-antibody interactions and the converse situation may also occur. Since method efficiencies may be food dependent, it is advisable to perform comparative studies to ensure that a particular assay will be effective in the analysis of that food type.

The specificity of DNA based assays is dictated by short probes; hence, a positive result, for instance with a probe or primers specific for a toxin gene, only indicates that bacteria with those gene sequences are present and that they have the potential to be toxigenic. But, it does not indicate that the gene is actually expressed and that the toxin is made. Likewise, in clostridial and staphylococcal intoxication, DNA probes and PCR can detect only the presence of cells, but are of limited use in detecting the presence of preformed toxins.
Currently, there are at least 30 assays each for testing for E. coli O157:H7 and for Salmonella. Such a large number of options can be confusing and overwhelming to the user, but, more importantly, has limited the effective evaluation of these methods. As a result, only few methods have been officially validated for use in food testing .

Reference:
Feng, P. 1997. Impact of Molecular Biology on the Detection of Foodborne Pathogens. Mol. Biotech. 7:267-278.