Rapid detection of viable Salmonella in pasteurized milk is important to protect public health from food poisoning. Reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction(RT-PCR) is recognized as a molecular genetical method to differentiate between live and dead bacteria The RT-PCR in this study was designed to detect specifically viable Salmonella in milk by using the primers whose nucleotide sequences were determined based on fimA gene which encodes the submit of type 1 fimbriae. Treatment of RNA preparation with RNase-free DNase was adequate enough to destroy DNA, which may otherwise be amplified in the RT PCR Seven strains of Salmonella were detected in the RT-PCR but Escherichia coli, Shigella sonnei, Citrobacter freundii, and Klebsiella pneumoniae were not. $10^7/ml$ and $10^6/ml$ of dead Salmonella which were heat-treated in milk were detectable by using the RT-PCR but $10^5{sim}10/ml$ of the dead bacteria were not. The sensitivity of the RT-PCR in detecting viable Salmonella was 100 cells/ml.