Dubbed the Oxoid Salmonella Rapid Culture Method, the company says it has been developed to provide excellent recovery of salmonella and provide presumptive positive colonies in just 42 hours. That, it says, is considerably less time than is required by traditional culture methods.

"The identification of Salmonella contamination is a critical function in food microbiology laboratories and delays can have an enormous impact on the efficiency and economy of businesses," said Cheryl Mooney, industrial applications manager at Oxoid.

"Not only will the Oxoid Salmonella Rapid Culture Method save time by providing presumptive positive colonies in just 42 hours, but it also saves on resources by reducing the number of colonies requiring confirmation."

Oxoid, which is part of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc, says the method combines features from two of its existing products.

Its ONE Broth-Salmonella is described as "a highly nutritious enrichment broth containing a specific growth promoter to ensure excellent recovery of stressed and damaged Salmonella cells, whilst inhibiting the growth of competing micro-organisms."

This means enrichment can be performed in one 18-hour incubation, whereas usually secondary enrichment would be required.

After this, the sample is plated onto OSCM II, a chromogenic culture media designed to utilise the trademarked Inhibigen technology.

This technology selectively reduces background flora, allowing clearer visualisation of target colonies in mixed culture and thus improves the recovery and differentiation of Salmonella.

Salmonella colonies show up in bright purple, whereas any other organisms, like Klebsiella and Enterobacter do not.

This, the company says, reduces the number of false-positives requiring confirmation.