Evaluation of Five Miniaturized Systems for Identifying Enterobacteriaceae from Stock Cultures and Raw Foods

Abstract

Five miniaturized systems (API, Enteric-Tek, Enterotube II, Micro-ID and Minitek) were compared to conventional procedures for identification of Enterobacteriaceae from stock cultures and freshly isolated from food sources, The accuracy of identification to genus was 98% for Micro-ID; 95%, Minitek; 94%, Enteric-Tek; 93%, API; and 86%, Enterotube II, Accuracy of identification to species was 97% for Micro-ID; 94%, Minitek; 93%, Enteric-Tek; 91 %, API; and 79%, Enterotube II, The 124 organisms tested in this study were from 11 genera of the Enterobacteriaceae family. All systems accurately identified to species the most pathogenic members of the family (Arizona hinshawii, Salmonella typhi, Salmonella typhimurium and Shigella flexneri). Most of the inaccuracies in identification occurred with Enterobacter and Serratia species.