A METHOD OF ASSESSING BACTERIAL LOAD OF A SAMPLE

摘要

A method of determining a bacterial load of a food product, especially a meat carcass, comprises the steps of processing a sample of nucleic acid isolated from the food product to amplify and quantify a target region associated gram positive bacteria, and a target region associated with gram negative bacteria, and correlating the quantity of amplified target regions with a bacterial load value for the food product. The target region associated with gram positive bacteria is amplified using a primer set comprising of SEQUENCE ID NO. 3 (gram positive forward primer) or a functional fragment thereof, and SEQUENCE ID NO. 4 (gram positive reverse primer) or a functional fragment thereof. The target region associated with gram negative bacteria is amplified using a primer set comprising of SEQUENCE ID NO. 5 (gram negative forward primer) or a functional fragment thereof, and SEQUENCE ID NO. 6 (gram negative reverse primer) or a functional fragment thereof. A kit of parts for performing the method of the invention is also described.