A rapid assay was developed for detection of small numbers of Campylobacter cells in food samples. The intergenic sequence between the 16S rRNA gene of Campylobacter jejuni was amplified and characterized with a triple primer or semi-nested primer approach . The detection limit as determinated by ethidium bromide staining of amplification products on agarose gels was 10 bacteria or fewer in artificially contaminated samples with the seminested PCR assay.