Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) O26 has been increasingly associated with diarrheal disease all over the world. We developed an immunochromatographic (ic) strip for the rapid detection of E. coli O26 in food samples. To determine the specificity of the IC strip, pure cultures of 67 E. coli and 22 non-E. coli strains were tested with the IC strip. The IC strip could detect all (18 of 18) E. coli O26 strains tested and did not react with strains of any other E. coli serogroup or non-E. coli strains tested (0 of 71). The minimum detection limits for E. coli O26 were 2.2 × 10(3) to 1.0 × 10(5) cfu/ml. To evaluate the ability of the IC strip to detect E. coli O26 in food, 25-g food samples (ground beef, beef liver, ground chicken, alfalfa sprout, radish sprout, spinach, natural cheese, and apple juice) were spiked with E. coli O26. The IC strip was able to detect E. coli O26 at very low levels (approximately 1 cfu/25 g of food samples) after an 18-h enrichment, and the IC strip results were in 100% agreement with the results of the culture method and pcr assay. When 115 meat samples purchased from supermarkets were tested, 5 were positive for E. coli O26 with the IC strip; these results were confirmed with a pcr assay. These results suggest that the IC strip is a useful tool for detecting E. coli O26 in food samples.