Salmonella source attribution based on microbial subtyping

• Source attribution is a valuable tool for prioritizing food-safety interventions.
• Microbial subtyping is an effective method to infer sources of human food-borne infections.
• The state of the art concerning Salmonella microbial subtyping source attribution models is presented.
• The available subtyping methods to implement Salmonella source attribution models are discussed.
• PFGE and MLVA are expected to be applied for Salmonella source attribution models in the near future.

Source attribution of cases of food-borne disease represents a valuable tool for identifying and prioritizing effective food-safety interventions. Microbial subtyping is one of the most common methods to infer potential sources of human food-borne infections. So far, Salmonella microbial subtyping source attribution models have been implemented by using serotyping and phage-typing data. Molecular-based methods may prove to be similarly valuable in the future, as already demonstrated for other food-borne pathogens like Campylobacter. This review assesses the state of the art concerning Salmonella source attribution through microbial subtyping approach. It summarizes the available microbial subtyping attribution models and discusses the use of conventional phenotypic typing methods, as well as of the most commonly applied molecular typing methods in the European Union (EU) laboratories in the context of their potential applicability for Salmonella source attribution studies.