More rapid and accurate identification of (zoonotic) Salmonella serotypes subjected to official control in poultry and pork

In the scope of the combat against zoonotic Salmonella it is crucial to rapidly identify serotypes that may not contaminate the food chain. The classical method for serotyping by slide agglutination following the Kauffmann-Le Minor Scheme is time consuming and requires carefully trained personnel. It is for these reasons that this methode is fully mastered in only one laboratory in Belgium (Human NRC, IPH).
Our project is composed of 5 challenges:
1) The development of an innovative molecular method that will be fast, inexpensive easy to implement and able to identify the most frequently isolated serotypes from pork and poultry sectors in Belgium
2) This method will be modular in order to reduce the reagents costs but also allowing to add or retire serotype identifications in function of the evolution of the legislation or of a modification in the incidence of a serotype
3) This method will be validated following the criteria of ISO17025 and ISO22119
4) A decision support system (DSS) accessible via the web able to automatically interpret the raw data will be developed in ordeer to easier implement the method in the first line laboratories. The results will be collected in a Dbase allowing the surveillance of the serotypes
5) This method will be transferred to the first line laboraties (provision of the apparatus + training given in the laboraties)