en تخصصي Special Review article Review article <p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size: 12px;">Foodborne pathogens comprise microorganisms such as viruses, bacteria and parasites that can be transmitted by food and affect public health worldwide. The most common viruses transmitted via food are <em>hepatitis A virus</em> and<em>&nbsp;</em><em>Norwalk-like caliciviruses</em>. Also, the most common bacteria involved in foodborne illnesses are <em>Campylobacter jejuni, Clostridium perfringens, Salmonella</em> spp, <em>Escherichia coli </em>O157:H7 and the most important parasites that can cause these conditions are <em>Giardia duodenalis, Cryptosporidium parvum, Cyclospora cayetanensis, Toxoplasma gondii, Trichinella spiralis, Taenia saginata and/or solium, Entamoeba histolytica, Anisakis</em> spp. and <em>Diphyllobothrium</em> spp. Because of their eventual small number in the sample, their detection and identification is not always easy. On the other hand, conventional methods like cultures are almost labor intensive, time consuming and costly. Recently, molecular techniques have been developed for rapid, sensitive and specific identification. The most common molecular methods are polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based techniques. In this article, the sensitive and specific molecular tests for routine detection and identification of foodborne pathogens are reviewed. </span></span></p> Polymerase chain reaction, Food analysis, Foodborne diseases 1 6 http://jfqhc.ssu.ac.ir/browse.php?a_code=A-10-1-12&slc_lang=en&sid=1 S. Boughattas No Department of Environmental and Biological Chemistry, College of Agriculture, Life and Environmental Sciences, Chungbuk National University, Cheongju, Chungbuk, South Korea (Republic of) R. Salehi r_salehi@med.mui.ac.ir Yes Department of Genetics and Molecular Biology, School of Medicine, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran