Table 1 Capture efficiency (CE) of immunomagnetic beads (IMBs) against E. coli O157:H7 in ham, beef, egg, and cheese samples

Food samples	Ham		Beef		Egg		Cheese (Ricotta)
Inoculum concentration (CFU/g)	CE (%) of IMB method (CFU/mL)	CE (%) of conventional method (CFU/mL)	CE (%) of IMB method (CFU/mL)	CE (%) of conventional method (CFU/mL)	CE (%) of IMB method (CFU/mL)	CE (%) of conventional method (CFU/mL)	CE (%) of IMB method (CFU/mL)	CE (%) of conventional method (CFU/mL)
101	8.8±1.0c*(8.7×100)	0.0±0.0e	7.5±1.0c*(6.7×100)	0.0±0.0d	5.8±1.2c*(5.7×100)	0.0±0.0e	7.5±4.9b*(4.0×100)	0.0±0.0c
102	17.3±2.3a*(4.8×101)	1.7±0.5de(2.0×100)	16.3±1.6a*(1.3×101)	1.9±0.6d(1.3×101)	10.7±0.9b*(8.3×101)	1.8±0.2de(1.4×101)	11.8±3.1a*(5.4×101)	2.0±0.5c(0.9×101)
103	13.1±0.6b*(3.4×102)	1.9±0.1de(2.4×101)	13.2±0.4b*(8.2×102)	0.9±0.2d(5.4×101)	10.5±0.3b*(8.8×102)	1.3±0.1de(1.1×102)	10.9±0.3a*(1.6×102)	1.5±0.2c(2.3×101)
104	12.8±0.7b*(2.8×103)	1.4±0.0e(1.5×102)	12.2±0.4b*(6.5×103)	0.8±0.1d(5.1×102)	14.4±1.1a*(7.4×103)	1.9±0.1d(1.1×103)	8.9±0.3ab*(1.2×103)	0.8±0.1c(1.2×102)
105	8.8±0.7c*(3.2×104)	0.8±0.0e(1.3×103)	11.9±0.8b*(1.6×104)	0.4±0.1d(1.4×103)	10.1±0.6b*(5.2×104)	1.1±0.0de(8.1×103)	6.8±0.2b*(1.1×104)	0.4±0.0c(6.9×102)
106	3.6±0.1d*(1.6×105)	0.7±0.1e(1.6×104)	5.8±0.4c*(4.4×105)	0.4±0.0d(2.9×104)	6.6±0.4c*(4.5×105)	1.1±0.7de(8.4×104)	6.9±2.0b*(0.9×105)	0.4±0.0c(4.6×103)

Means±SE with different superscript letters within the same column differ significantly at p<0.05.
^* Significant difference (p<0.05) in CE between IMB-based method and conventional method for a given inoculum concentration in a given food sample.