Table 3.

Echinococcus multilocularis: sample, pre-treatment and molecular detection methods.

Origin/item	Amount (g)	Pre-treatment	DNA isolation	Detection method	Spiking (egg amount)/No of positive/tested	Recovery (No. of eggs)	LOD	Reference
Fruit, vegetable, mushroomsa	300–500 g fruits/mushrooms, 500 g vegetables, one head of lettuce, two bunches dill or chives	3× F-Tb	Sherlock AX Kit AntyInhibitor Kit	nested PCR	YES (101–103) 24/103	100	N/A	Lass et al. (2015)
Lettuce, fruits and other vegetables	at least 40 heads lettuce, 1400 g vegetables and fruits.	NOb	Chelex-100 + Qiamp DNA mini kit	conventional PCR	NO 0/141c	N/A	N/A	Federer et al. (2016)
Fruit, vegetable, mushroomsa	300–500 g fruits/mushrooms, 500 g of vegetables, one head of lettuce, two bunches of dill or chives	3× F-Tb	Sherlock AX Kit AntyInhibitor Kit	nested PCR	NO 7/104	100	N/A	Lass et al. (2017)
Leafy greens, berries (romaine lettuce and strawberries)	35 g romaine lettuce, 55 g strawberry samples	BB 8× F-T	FastDNA™ SPIN Kit for soil (include BB), QIAamp® DNA Stool Mini Kit (include F-T)	qPCR	YESd	5/sample	N/A	Frey et al. (2019)
Bilberries	250 g	NOe	Tissue and Hair Extraction Kit + OneStep™ PCR Inhibitor Removal Kit	qPCR	YES (0, 1, 5, 50) 0/42	sensitivity 100% with 3 eggs	4.37 × 10−5 ng/μl	Malkamaki et al. (2019a)
Bilberries, lingonberry	26–300 g				YES (5, 10, 50, 100, 500)			Malkamaki et al. (2019b)
Berries (raspberries or blueberries)	30 g	BB	DNeasy PowerSoil Kit +2× BB 4 m/s for 60 s	Multiplex qPCR	YES (5, 10	5	5 eggs/30 g assay could detect 1 egg of EM	Temesgen et al. (2019b)
Strawberries	30 g	BB	DNeasy PowerSoil Kit +2× BB 4 m/s for 60 s	Multiplex qPCR	NO 0/120	2 eggs/sample	N/A	Pineda et al. (2020)
Lettuce	300 g, 900–1800 g (totally 158 kg ~1413 lettuce heads)	NOb, f	Chelex-100 + Qiamp DNA mini kit		YES (2, 4, 10, 20, 40, 120); 2/157		N/A	Guggisberg et al. (2020)

F-T = cycles of freezing at −70 °C and thawing at 30 °C.

BB = bead beating.

EM = Echinococcus multilocularis.

^aBerry, mushroom, carrot, parsley, beet, celery, radish, lettuce, dill.

^bBefore DNA isolation, the sample was concentrated by flotation using ZnCl₂ solution, usage of sieves.

^cDetected Echinococcus granulosus in 2 samples.

^dSpiked by Taenia pisiformis; lettuce: 500, 100, 50, 10, 5; strawberries 100, 50, 10, 5.

^eBefore DNA isolation, the sample was concentrated by usage of sieves.

^fBefore DNA isolation, the sample was concentrated by centrifugation.