Calls to unscramble egg advice

Egg producers last week called on the Government to amend its advice to caterers and consumers on mayonnaise in the wake of an outbreak of salmonella poisoning last month.

Andy Oatley, chairman of the UK Egg Producers Association (UKEPA), wrote to Virginia Bottomley, Secretary of State for Health, accusing the Government of failing to give caterers a range of options in its advice, which says simply that mayonnaise should not be made from raw eggs.

Mr Oatley sent his letter as a result of a case last month in which the owner of a Cardiff sandwich outlet who used a "Mrs Beeton" recipe to make mayonnaise was fined £7,500 after a food poisoning incident.

But Mr Oatley said it was not the recipe that was at fault. "It is our view that, had the mayonnaise in question been made to the original Mrs Beeton recipe as claimed, the acidity would have been at a level sufficient to have prevented bacterial growth and the outbreak would not have occurred," he wrote.

Food safety consultant Richard North, who acts as an adviser to the association, said the correct amount of vinegar would "act like Dettol" in killing salmonella bacteria. The correct method would entail using 10g of vinegar and a quarter of a pint of oil for every egg used.

"According to health education principles, you should offer a range of options to people. The Government's advice is not statutory so those who still want to use raw eggs will go ahead anyway. What it should have done was suggest a safer way of using them," Mr North told Caterer.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Health said it would respond to the letter in due course.

Mr North said that an overall decline in salmonella poisonings disguised a massive growth in poisonings caused by two new salmonella strains, typhirium (up by 28%) and virchow (up by 113%).