Molecular Methods for Identification and Quantification of Foodborne Pathogens
Min Zhang, Jiajia Wu, Zhaoai Shi, Aocheng Cao, Wensheng Fang, Dongdong Yan, Qiuxia Wang, Yuan Li
Abstract
Foodborne pathogens that enter the human food chain are a significant threat worldwide to human health. Timely and cost-effective detection of them became challenging for many countries that want to improve their detection and control of foodborne illness. We summarize simple, rapid, specific, and highly effective molecular technology that is used to detect and identify foodborne pathogens, including polymerase chain reaction, isothermal amplification, loop-mediated isothermal amplification, nucleic acid sequence-based amplification, as well as gene chip and gene probe technology. The principles of their operation, the research supporting their application, and the advantages and disadvantages of each technology are summarized.