Salmonella enterica serovar Enteritidis was detected in artificially inoculated eggs within 24 h through a rapid monoclonal antibody-based dot blot immunoassay. Detection in poultry and other products required 28 h. Samples were directly enriched in homogenized egg without the need for pre-or postenrichment steps. Serovar Enteritidis was detected in the presence of other bacteria when outcompeted 1:400.Conventional methods for detection of Salmonella in foods are labor-intensive, time-consuming, and expensive. It has also been found that some of the routinely used selective enrichment broths are inhibitory towards Salmonella enterica serovar Enteritidis (28). Rapid methods based on principles such as membrane technology (11), latex agglutination (27), immunoassays (6,18,30), and immunomagnetic separation (8,9,19) have been developed. Methods employing PCR in combination with preenrichment broths (24,31,32), immunomagnetic separation (25, 26), or centrifugation (21, 22) are currently being developed.Immunologically based methods specific for serovar Enteritidis suffer from the same drawbacks as the above methods: one or more enrichment broths, or in some cases, postenrichment broths, are required. Cross-reactivity has also been observed with most monoclonal antibodies produced against serovar Enteritidis (17,18,27). This report describes the development of a rapid dot blot immunoassay for the detection of serovar Enteritidis in eggs, poultry, and other products.Large grade A eggs were scrubbed with 70% ethanol and opened aseptically. Eggs were mixed for 30 s using a stomacher lab blender 400 (Seward Laboratory, London, England) and were inoculated with either serovar Enteritidis phage type 1, 4, 8, 13, or 13a. After incubation, 25-ml portions were placed into 50-ml polypropylene tubes, and 0.1 volume of 15% sodium cholate in phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) (pH 7.2) was added. After being mixed, tubes were placed in boiling water for 10 min and cooled for 30 min at 4°C. Through heating, the egg mixture was solidified, forming a solid egg gel. After cooling, the gel was removed from the tube, and a sterile core borer (10-mm diameter) was used to create small cylindrical gels. The cylindrical gels were then cut into disks of 2 mm in thickness.Nitrocellulose strips (8.5 by 2.5 cm) were prewetted with PBS prior to use. Egg disks were placed on the membrane for 5 min, removed, and washed for 2 min in PBS. Strips were blocked for 45 min in 5% skim milk powder in Tris-buffered saline (pH 7.5) and incubated with a murine monoclonal antibody solution (tissue culture supernatant) for 45 min, followed by 1 h of incubation in biotinylated goat anti-mouse immunoglobulin G. Strips were incubated with streptavidinalkaline phosphatase for 1 h and developed with a BCIP (5-bromo-4-chloro-3-indolylphosphate)-nitroblue tetrazolium chloride substrate solution. Membranes were washed twice with Tris-buffered saline containing 0.05% Tween 20 for 2 min between each step. All steps were performed at room temperature.Bacterial cultures were...