The aim of this chapter is to briefly present polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based technologies for use in the detection and quantification of different microorganisms in foods, with an emphasis on sample preparation and evaluation of results. Furthermore, we indicate the PCR-based methods that are most commonly used for the typing of bacteria, and in the final section we provide examples of P...

DNA variation from randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) (1, 2) has recently been helpful in addressing a wide range of evolutionary problems including the determination of paternity and maternity (3). It has been greeted with particular enthusiasm because it is fast, technically easy and requires little material (4). By using single 10 base primers of arbitrary sequences to amplify DNA wit...

The sensitivity of analysis achievable with PCR has led to the technology being adopted across a range of sectors. For many applications a quantitative result is required, which has driven the development of a range of strategies to determine the amount of starting material in a sample. Approaches such as competitive PCR and limiting dilution analysis have been used as routes to quantification,...