New semisolid agar for the detection of motile salmonellae.

A semisolid selective motility agar based on selenite broth and designated semisolid selenite fecal (SSF) agar was developed for recovery of motile salmonellae from large numbers of rodent fecal specimens. The medium is easily prepared and inoculated; results are readily interpreted. When combined with selenite or gram-negative broth enrichment, SSF agar yielded significantly better Salmonella isolation from experimentally infected rodents than a standard battery of media. Only 14 non-Salmonella isolates from 1,002 Salmonella-free rodent fecal specimens migrated on SSF agar.