Data from: A fast method for the detection of Salmonella Typhimurium cells in egg biofilms on three different surfaces

Salmonella is a pathogenic microorganism linked to foodborne outbreaks associated with egg and egg products. This microorganism can resist sanitation of the egg processing equipment and form biofilms. The main challenge is detecting Salmonella cells in the early stages of biofilm formation to use effective interventions to control and remove the Salmonella biofilms. This work aimed to study the biofilm formation of S. Typhimurium in liquid whole egg (LWE) on three common food-contact surfaces, stainless steel, silicone, and nylon, during the first five hours of incubation at 37°C and compare traditional microbiological methods to innovative and fast detection techniques. The results showed that using general plate counts, Salmonella cells were detected after three h of incubation with less than 1 – log of growth, silicone was the material with most cells attached, followed by stainless steel. Long-read whole genome sequencing detected Salmonella on stainless steel, silicone, and nylon after only one h of incubation. The results of this study suggest that long-read sequencing could be very useful for detecting Salmonella at low concentrations in the processing environment.

This research used the resources provided by SCINet project and the AI Center of Excellence of the USDA Agricultural Research Service, ARS project number 0500-00093-001-00-D.