Salmonella is one of the leading causes of food-borne illnesses worldwide, and one of the main contributors to salmonellosis is the consumption of contaminated egg, poultry, pork, beef, and milk products. Since deleterious efects of Salmonella on public health and the economy continue to occur, improving safety of food products by early detection of food-borne pathogens would be considered an important component for limiting exposure to Salmonella contamination. Therefore, there is an ongoing need to develop more advanced detection methods that can identify Salmonella accurately and rapidly in foods before they reach consumers. In the past three decades, there have been increasing eforts toward developing and improving rapid pathogen detection and characterization methodologies for application to food products. In this chapter, we discuss molecular methods for detection, identiication, and genetic characterization of Salmonella in food. In addition, the advantages and disadvantages of the established and emerging rapid detection methods are addressed here. The methods with potential application to the industry are highlighted in this chapter.