[10]. The

use of bifidobacteria as indicator of fecal contamination along a sheep meat production chain was described by Delcenserie and coll. [18]. In that study, total bifidobacteria had been shown to be more efficient indicators than E. coli in carcasses samples. Several molecular methods have been developed to detect one or several bifidobacteria species [9, 12, 19–22]. The purpose of most of them, however, was to detect bifidobacteria species from human origin rather than from animal origin. In the present study, two this website different molecular methods were used to detect total bifidobacteria and B. pseudolongum present in two different French raw milk cheeses, St-Marcellin (Vercors area) and Brie (Loiret area). The results were evaluated for the potential use of bifidobacteria as indicators of fecal contamination. Results GSI-IX in vitro Validation of the PCR methods on pure strains The B. pseudolongum (fluorochrome VIC) probe based on hsp60 gene was validated on 55 pure Bifidobacterium strains belonging to 13 different species (Table 1). The results observed with the B. pseudolongum probe showed a specificity of 100% and a sensitivity of 93%. Only one B. pseudolongum strain (LC 290/1) gave a negative result. Table 1 References and source of the Bifidobacterium strains used for the validation of PCR assays International or INRA internal reference Name as received Isolated from ATCC 27672 B. animalis Rat feces RA20 (Biavati)

B. animalis Rabbit feces Pigeon 1/2 B. thermophilum Pigeon feces LC 458/3 B. thermophilum Raw milk

B 39/3 B. thermophilum Cow dung LC 288/1 B. thermophilum Raw milk LC 110/1 B. thermophilum Raw selleck milk T 585/1/2 B. thermophilum Raw milk Pigeon 1/1 B. thermophilum Pigeon feces T 528/4 B. thermophilum Raw milk Pigeon 4/1 B. thermophilum Pigeon feces Pigeon 4/3 B. thermophilum Pigeon feces Internal 2 B. pseudolongum ** Unknown RU 224 (Biavati) B. pseudolongum subsp. globosum Bovine rumen Internal 3 B. pseudolongum ** Unknown MB7 (Biavati) B. pseudolongum subsp. pseudolongum Pig feces LC 287/2 B. pseudolongum ** Raw milk LC 302/2 B. pseudolongum ** Raw milk B 81/1 B. pseudolongum ** Cow dung LC 290/1 B. pseudolongum ** Raw milk Poule 1/2 B. pseudolongum cAMP ** Chicken feces LC 147/2 B. pseudolongum ** Raw milk LC 700/2 B. pseudolongum ** Raw milk LC 686/1 B. pseudolongum ** Raw milk LC 680/2 B. pseudolongum ** Raw milk LC 617/2 B. pseudolongum ** Raw milk RU 915 BT B. merycicum Bovine rumen RU 687T B. ruminantium Bovine rumen LC 396/4 B. minimum Raw milk Internal 6 B. cuniculi Unknown BS3 B. adolescentis Adult feces CCUG 18363T B. adolescentis Adult feces 206 1a B. adolescentis Adult feces 503 1e B. adolescentis Elderly feces 1604 3a B. adolescentis Elderly feces DSMZ 20082 B. bifidum Adult feces BS 95 B. bifidum Adult feces BS 119 B. bifidum Adult feces NCFB 2257T B. breve Infant intestine Butel 10 B. breve Infant feces Butel 5 B. breve Infant feces Butel 15 B. breve Infant feces Crohn 16 B.