Determination of the Sensitivity of a Rapid Escherichia coli O157:H7 Assay for Testing 375-Gram Composite Samples

Both 25-g single-size ground beef samples and 375-g composite ground beef samples were tested by a method combining an immunomagnetic separation (IMS) technique with a sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) system (IMS-ELISA). The results demonstrated that IMS-ELISA could detect the target, Escherichia coli O157:H7, at the level of 10(−1) CFU/g of sample in either the 25- or 375-g sample size.