On Sat, 18 Oct 2003 19:35:44 GMT, Sylvia
> wrote:

>Sorry to disillusion you, but most food poisonings from potato
>salad/tuna salad/etc were probably made with commercial mayonnaise,
>because how many people do you know who make their own?

That would be logical *if* mayonnaise were responsible for "most" food
poisoning. From all I've been able to gather, these picnic salad-based
incidents are much more likely to be caused by plain ol' food
mishandling involving *other* contaminated items. Raw eggs *can*
harbor salmonella; therefore homemade, raw-egg mayonnaise is a (slim)
possibility.

A CDC report on salmonella, citing just under 1,100 cases in 1999,
says "Of the 19 outbreaks in 1999 for which a vehicle could be
confirmed, 15 (79%) were associated with shell eggs; implicated
vehicles included lasagna, ice cream, tira misu, stuffing, and
manicotti. Between 1993 and 1998, an average of 82% of
vehicle-confirmed outbreaks have been egg-associated."

http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dbmd/disea...ECSTE99web.pdf

However, the detailed table of suspected or confirmed food causes
shows only ONE that mentions a mayonnaise-based salad (chicken). The
other egg-containing foods include lasagna, freedom toast(!), Chinese
burrito, and quiche.

Nope. I don't think I'm going to worry about an unrefrigerated tuna
salad sandwich any more.