ABSTRACT
Results obtained by using standard, conventional tube and plate tests to rapidly and accurately detect and identify pathogenic bacteria in foods present many inherent problems. Increased use of plastic made possible the development of disposable multichambered trays, plates, and dishes of various shapes and sizes which were utilized by the manufacturers of packaged identification systems or kits. The disadvantages of radioisotopes in immunoassays have led to the development of alternative procedures with other labels including enzymes, coenzymes, fluorescent dyes, fluorogenic substrates, chemilu-minescent precursors, bacteriophages, and metal ions. The primary advantage of DNA hybridization is that if the appropriate DNA sequences are selected for, the test should be highly selective with very low levels of false negatives and false positives. The age of rapid, miniaturized techniques for identification of bacteria received much impetus in the middle to late 1940s, when Bachman and Weaver added concentrated inocula to small tubes of different media.
