The sensitivity of the quantitative polymerase chain reaction assay (qPCR) was shown to be 10,000 Salmonella colony forming units of bacteria per gram of fecal matter; this means that this rapid and specific test is a useful tool for the industry. The study found a trend toward reduced, but not statistically significant, amount of Salmonella in lairage pens from standard hygiene practices of washing pens between groups of swine. This reduction in lairage pens may reduce transmission between groups and could result in a reduction of contaminated carcasses. It also allows one to determine if on farm and transport sanitation methods are reducing Salmonella fecal incidence at lairage pens. The lack of significance is partially due to the low number of positive pens in this study before washing. Due to the low numbers found in this study, samples were not collected from transport as they would have not lead to significant differences between various treatments.