Abstract: Without question, the major block to the ability to detect food borne pathogens in real or near real-time is the continued reliance on cultural enrichment. Indeed, decreasing or eliminating the need for enrichment would allow food microbiologists the opportunity to truly harness the power of the emerging molecular detection methods. It should be clear from the preceding discussion that further research into effective matrix preparation, specifically targeting bacterial concentration and purification methods will be necessary if we are to move forward toward achievement of this goal.