Salmonella is a food-borne microorganism that can cause intestinal illness  The illness is sometimes fatal, especially if not identified quickly and treated  Conventional Salmonella tests on food samples are slow and can miss unusual strains of the microorganism  A new test identifies the presence or absence of Salmonella by the one piece of genetic material common to all strains
Clearly, public health officials would be well advised to replace the previous Salmonella tests with the new test
The new test returns results very soon after food samples are submitted for testing.