Key TakeawaysA rapidSalmonellatest is being developed that works similarly to a COVID-19 antigen test.A rapid test forSalmonellawill decrease long wait times that are currently needed for lab cultures to diagnose the infection, which is common in the food industry and in people’s kitchens at home.Having a way to test forSalmonellaquickly could help reduce the number of foodborne illness outbreaks and recalls.

Key Takeaways

A rapidSalmonellatest is being developed that works similarly to a COVID-19 antigen test.A rapid test forSalmonellawill decrease long wait times that are currently needed for lab cultures to diagnose the infection, which is common in the food industry and in people’s kitchens at home.Having a way to test forSalmonellaquickly could help reduce the number of foodborne illness outbreaks and recalls.

Researchers from McMaster University have developed a rapid test that can easily detectSalmonellain contaminated poultry, eggs, dairy, and ground beef.

The inexpensive rapid test works similarly to aCOVID-19 rapid at-home antigen test. A user drops a liquified sample of food onto a paper test strip that will give an accurate result in less than an hour.

Currently, the food industry relies on expensive, time-consuming lab cultures to find out if supplies are contaminated withSalmonella, as do the healthcare providers whodiagnosethe 1.35 millionSalmonellainfections that occur in the United States each year.

The test could help minimize food waste, illness outbreaks, and food recalls.

Here’s what you should know about at-homeSalmonellatesting, and how you can prevent foodborne illness in your kitchen.

Why You May Want to Test for Salmonella

Salmonellainfections are commonly linked to poultry, beef, pork, eggs, fruits, vegetables, and occasionallypeanut butterand raw flour. Having a way to know whether the food you’re getting ready to eat could be contaminated could be a life-saver—maybe even literally.

Salmonellamakes millions of people sick each year. They’ll usually start feeling sick a few days after eating something contaminated (sometimes even within hours).

Most people who get a bout of “food poisoning” have symptoms like nausea and vomiting, diarrhea, stomach cramps, and sometimes a fever. While no fun, the illness is usually something they can manage on their own at home, and they’ll be feeling back to normal within a few days to a week.

However, some people get very sick fromSalmonellaand need to be treated withantibiotics. They might even end up in the hospital—for example, if the GI symptoms lead todehydration.

People who may need treatment for aSalmonellainfection include:

It’s not common, but aSalmonellainfection can turn deadly. About 400 people die in the U.S. each year fromSalmonellainfections or the complications related to it (likesepsis).

How Can You Tell If You Have Salmonella?

A Rapid Salmonella Test Could Make Food Prep Safer

Ideally, food safety starts long before you’re in your kitchen at home making something to eat. Local grocery stores, your favorite takeout place, the factory where a product was packaged, the farm where food was grown, and the trucks used to transport the goods all play an important role in making sure the food is safe for people to eat.

“Since there are no simple, cost-effective, and accurate tests forSalmonella, we believe we can provide a solution for the food industry and health sectors to frequently test for this important food pathogen,” Yingfu Li, PhD, a study author and professor of Biochemistry and Chemical Biology at McMaster University’s Functional Nucleic Acids Research Group, told Verywell.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) regulatesSalmonellatesting for places that process, pack, or hold foods for humans to eat. The FSIS recommends testing forSalmonellawith a special method called cultures, but it can take days or even weeks to provide results and it’s costly.

If aSalmonellaoutbreak is suspected, a lab culture test can confirm the bacteria as the cause—but again, not necessarily in a timely, affordable way.

A rapidSalmonellatest would make the process faster because the food industry and restaurants could self-test food forSalmonellaand get results in hours. If the tests cost less, it could also make more frequent testing possible.

According to Li, having the test would mean you don’t have to wait for days to pay up to $100 to do a test forSalmonella.

At-homeSalmonellatests could help consumers, too. Li said that the testing could be done “at home similar to how we check for bacteria in our swimming pools and COVID antigen tests.”

Is There Treatment for Salmonella?

When Will the Test Be Ready?

The vision of the research team (which also includes the non-profit organization Mitacs and Toyota Tsusho Canada, Inc.) is a rapidSalmonellatest that’s available to the general public for at-home use, at senior living facilities, and at other places that process and sell food.

While the rapid test is still in the prototype phase, Li said that the next step is to work with industries to validate the test results using different food samples.

Li said that the team already has an industrial partner that’s interested in taking the test to market, but it will be a couple of years before it is available for industrial and at-home use.

What to Do If You Get Food Poisoning

How to Keep Salmonella Out of Your Kitchen

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there are four important steps you can take in your kitchen at home to preventSalmonellaillness.

Make Sure Your Space Is Clean

Keep Everything Separate

Cook and Check Temperature

Chill Your Food

What This Means For YouHaving a quick way to test your food at home could make foodborne illnesses fromSalmonellaless common and could also help the food industry avoid costly recalls. In the meantime, you can take steps to prevent foodborne illness at home.

What This Means For You

Having a quick way to test your food at home could make foodborne illnesses fromSalmonellaless common and could also help the food industry avoid costly recalls. In the meantime, you can take steps to prevent foodborne illness at home.

How to Prevent Salmonella Food Poisoning

7 SourcesVerywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.McMaster University.Salmonella solution: Researchers develop rapid test for food contamination.Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Salmonella: questions and answers.Li J, Khan S, Gu J, Filipe CDM, Didar TF, Li Y.A simple colorimetric Au-on-Au tip sensor with a new functional nucleic acid probe for food-borne pathogenSalmonella typhimurium.Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. Published online March 18, 2023. doi:10.1002/anie.202300828Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Salmonella and food.Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Salmonella: information for healthcare professionals and laboratories.U.S. Department of Agriculture: Food Safety and Inspection Service.Isolation and identification ofSalmonellafrom meat, poultry, pasteurized egg, carcass, and environmental sponges.Leinwand SE, Glanz K, Keenan BT, Branas CC.Inspection frequency, sociodemographic factors, and food safety violations in chain and nonchain restaurants, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 2013-2014.Public Health Rep. 2017;132(2):180-187. doi:10.1177/0033354916687741Additional ReadingFood and Drug Administration.Guidance for industry: testing for Salmonella species in human foods and direct-human-contact animal foods.

7 Sources

Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.McMaster University.Salmonella solution: Researchers develop rapid test for food contamination.Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Salmonella: questions and answers.Li J, Khan S, Gu J, Filipe CDM, Didar TF, Li Y.A simple colorimetric Au-on-Au tip sensor with a new functional nucleic acid probe for food-borne pathogenSalmonella typhimurium.Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. Published online March 18, 2023. doi:10.1002/anie.202300828Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Salmonella and food.Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Salmonella: information for healthcare professionals and laboratories.U.S. Department of Agriculture: Food Safety and Inspection Service.Isolation and identification ofSalmonellafrom meat, poultry, pasteurized egg, carcass, and environmental sponges.Leinwand SE, Glanz K, Keenan BT, Branas CC.Inspection frequency, sociodemographic factors, and food safety violations in chain and nonchain restaurants, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 2013-2014.Public Health Rep. 2017;132(2):180-187. doi:10.1177/0033354916687741Additional ReadingFood and Drug Administration.Guidance for industry: testing for Salmonella species in human foods and direct-human-contact animal foods.

Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.

McMaster University.Salmonella solution: Researchers develop rapid test for food contamination.Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Salmonella: questions and answers.Li J, Khan S, Gu J, Filipe CDM, Didar TF, Li Y.A simple colorimetric Au-on-Au tip sensor with a new functional nucleic acid probe for food-borne pathogenSalmonella typhimurium.Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. Published online March 18, 2023. doi:10.1002/anie.202300828Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Salmonella and food.Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Salmonella: information for healthcare professionals and laboratories.U.S. Department of Agriculture: Food Safety and Inspection Service.Isolation and identification ofSalmonellafrom meat, poultry, pasteurized egg, carcass, and environmental sponges.Leinwand SE, Glanz K, Keenan BT, Branas CC.Inspection frequency, sociodemographic factors, and food safety violations in chain and nonchain restaurants, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 2013-2014.Public Health Rep. 2017;132(2):180-187. doi:10.1177/0033354916687741

McMaster University.Salmonella solution: Researchers develop rapid test for food contamination.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Salmonella: questions and answers.

Li J, Khan S, Gu J, Filipe CDM, Didar TF, Li Y.A simple colorimetric Au-on-Au tip sensor with a new functional nucleic acid probe for food-borne pathogenSalmonella typhimurium.Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. Published online March 18, 2023. doi:10.1002/anie.202300828

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Salmonella and food.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Salmonella: information for healthcare professionals and laboratories.

U.S. Department of Agriculture: Food Safety and Inspection Service.Isolation and identification ofSalmonellafrom meat, poultry, pasteurized egg, carcass, and environmental sponges.

Leinwand SE, Glanz K, Keenan BT, Branas CC.Inspection frequency, sociodemographic factors, and food safety violations in chain and nonchain restaurants, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 2013-2014.Public Health Rep. 2017;132(2):180-187. doi:10.1177/0033354916687741

Food and Drug Administration.Guidance for industry: testing for Salmonella species in human foods and direct-human-contact animal foods.

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