ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses Salmonella in eggs and explores a discussion of Salmonella enteritidis and the table egg, which have received so much publicity since 1988. It examines the Salmonella contamination of fertile hatching eggs and the impact of that on the contamination of raw poultry meat. Egg-associated outbreaks of salmonellosis, generally attributed to either bulk egg products or cracked shell eggs, occurred frequently before enactment of the 1970 Egg Products Inspection Act. A 1987 nosocomial outbreak at a New York hospital, traced to the use of raw eggs in the preparation of mayonnaise, was illustrative of the epidemiology of eggborne Salmonella enteritidis (SE) infections. Explaining the high rate of isolation of SE and the frequent association of some SE strains with eggs requires an understanding of the attributes that distinguish epidemiologically important strains from other SE strains and from other serotypes. Detectable antibodies to SE have been found in egg yolk by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and microantiglobulin methods.
