A PCR-based screening protocol was designed to test for the presence of C. jejuni in food samples cultured in an enrichment broth. The enrichment broth contains activated charcoal and other factors which inhibit the PCR reaction and require specific measures to purify and concentrate the C. jejuni. Several approaches were used to reduce the inhibition of the PCR; however, best results were obtained with the Percol flotation method: 10 ml of an overnight culture was layered on top of 10 ml of a 1:1 Percol/Tris 10 mM-EDTA 1mM, pH 8 (TE) solution in a 50 ml tube. The C. jejuni were separated from the charcoal by spinning the tube at 3000 x g for 15 minutes. The top 15 ml of the supernatant was removed and mixed with 10 ml of TE and the mixture pelleted in a centrifuge at 4500 x g for 15 minutes. The resulting pellets were washed 3 times in TE and resuspended in 0.2 ml of TE. The suspension was boiled and an aliquot was used in the PCR reaction. At present, the method detects as few as 104 C. jejuni cfu per ml of enriched broth culture in the absence of added food matrix and does not generate hazardous waste.