Background: Salmonella enterica serovar Enteritidis which involves poultry is transmitted by food. The aim of this survey was to optimize PCR method in order to detect Salmonella enteritidis in poultry products.

Materials and methods: In this basic research, 80 samples (40 broiler meat and 40 egg samples) were obtained from distribution centers in Karaj and suburb. Following the DNA extraction of the samples, PCR was optimized and performed using standard strain of Salmonella enteritidis (RTCC1621) as positive control and primers against the flagella coding sequence of Salmonella Enteritidis genome.

 Results: The analysis of the PCR products by agarose gel electrophoresis indicated the amplification of 250 bp segments in 16 out of 40 (40%) broiler meat and 9 out of 40 (23%) egg samples. The sensitivity of the PCR at the DNA level was found to be 1pg and the specificity of the PCR was determined using 6 other entric Gram negative bacteria and found to be positive only for Salmonella enteritidis.

Conclusion: This study confirmed that PCR provides sensitive, specific and rapid approach for detection of Salmonella enteritidis in food samples.