Kacey Barriss wrote:

> the mayonnaise aspect - wouldn't that have a lot to do with whether
> or not it was actually made with raw egg as an ingredient?

No. It wouldn't. Mayonnaise has been made with raw eggs forever. Until
the early part of the 20th century, it was all that was available.
Then some industrious soul discovered that freezing the eggs let them
emulsify more oil. Then, later, they pasteurized the eggs to reduce
bacterial counts.

The environment in the container (pH, water activity) attenuate and
kill the bacteria. Mayo can safely be kept at room temp until use. The
only reason for refrigerating it then is because of the contaminants
we introduce on the knife. It isn't processed before being put into
jars for sale. Nature takes care of it for us.

> A lot of the
> taboos related to food poisoning (USA) from potato salad, etc. made with
> mayonnaise were based upon the home made product using fresh raw eggs.

And a lot of the taboos are wrong. There will be bacterial growth on a
hot day with chicken salad or egg salad, but that's not from the mayo.
It's from the other protein ingredients.

Pastorio