Recombinase polymerase amplification combined with lateral flow dipstick for equipment-free detection of <italic>Salmonella</italic> in shellfish.

<italic>Salmonella</italic> is a major pathogen that causes acute foodborne outbreaks worldwide. Seafood, particularly shellfish, is a proven source of <italic>Salmonella</italic> spp. infection because many people prefer to eat it raw or lightly cooked. However, traditional identification methods are too time-consuming and complex to detect contamination of bacteria in the food chain in a timely manner, and few studies have aimed to identify <italic>Salmonella</italic> in shellfish early in the supply chain. We herein developed a method for rapid detection of <italic>Salmonella</italic> in shellfish based on the method of recombinase polymerase amplification (RPA) combined with lateral flow dipstick (LFD), which targets the invasion gene A (<italic>invA</italic>). The RPA-LFD was able to function at 30-45 °C, and at the temperature of 40 °C, it only took 8 min of amplification to reach the test threshold of amplicons. The established method had both a good specificity and a sensitivity of 100 fg DNA per reaction (20 µL). Regarding practical performance, RPA-LFD performed better than real-time PCR. Another advantage of RPA-LFD is that it was capable of being performed without expensive equipments. Thus, RPA-LFD has potential for further development as a detection kit for <italic>Salmonella</italic> in shellfish and other foods under field conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]