Detection of Salmonella enterica subspecies enterica serovar Enteritidis in food and environmental samples, methods and compositions therefor

A method for determining the presence of S. Enteritidis in a sample comprising:

• combining the sample with a culture medium for enriching Salmonella species for a time sufficient to generate a sample enriched for said species;
• extracting nucleic acid from at least some of the enriched sample to obtain extracted nucleic acid;
• contacting the extracted nucleic acid with at least one primer pair selected from a first primer pair of SEQ ID NO:1 and SEQ ID NO:3, a second primer pair of SEQ ID NO:10 and SEQ ID NO:
• 12, and a third primer pair of SEQ ID NO:
• 13 and SEQ ID NO:
• 15, under real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification conditions to generate amplified nucleic acid;
• and
• detecting at least some of the amplified nucleic acid, thereby determining the presence of S. Enteritidis in the sample, wherein the method does not cross-react with S. Paratyphi C.