During a 3-year period, the relative productivity of brilliant green (BG), bismuth sulfite (BS), Salmonella-Shigella (SS), Hektoen enteric (HE), and xylose lysine, desoxycholate (XLD) agars for recovering Salmonella from 9 food types was determined. Following pre-enrichment, selective enrichment of food samples in tetrathionate broth followed by streaking to BS agar was the single most productive selective enrichment broth-agar combination for recovery of Salmonella in 5 of these food types. A study of the performance of these 5 agars used individually and in various combinations, showed that none of the 5 agars used individually nor any of the possible paired combinations of these agars could be used to satisfactorily detect Salmonella in the 9 food types. The use of all 5 agars was not necessary because one combination of 4 agars (BG, BS, HE, and XLD) recoverd 100% of the Salmonella isolates, as compared with the number of Salmonella isolates recovered by the 5-agar combination, in each food category. This particular 4-agar combination, along with two 3-agar combinations (BG, BS, and XLD agars, and BS, HE, and XLD agars), were each able to recover more Salmonella isolates, than the combination of BG, BS, and SS agars, the combination currently recommended by the AOAC. Finally, the relative costs of using these agars, singly and in various combinations, were determined.