The aim of this study was to estimate the sensitivity and specificity of an indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for detection ofantibodies against a variety of Salmonella enterica serovars in meat juice and of standard microbiological methods for detection of S. enterica in caecal content and in mesenteric caecal lymph nodes. Latent-class models were used for the estimation because no gold standard was available. The sensitivity of the ELISA was determined at different cut-off values of the optical density. The estimated sensitivity of the ELISA was 37%, 50% and 60% when the test was considered positive at an optical density ~ 40, 20 and 10, respectively. Estimates of the sensitivity of the microbiological examination of caecal content ranged from 32% to 39% and of the mesenteric caecal lymph nodes from 27% to 33%. The estimated specificity of all diagnostic procedures was 100%.