Shell egg handling and preparation practices in food service establishments in Finland.

Foodborne outbreaks are often reported to be acquired at food service establishments. As a part of a quantitative risk assessment on the consumer risk of contracting Salmonella infection via shell eggs, we studied how small, medium, and large restaurants, institutional kitchens, and staff canteens (n=171) purchase, store, and use shell eggs. In addition, we estimated the fraction of raw and undercooked risky egg dishes among all egg dishes served in food service establishments of different sizes and types. The majority of establishments used shell eggs (78%), purchased eggs once per week (39%), and stored eggs at cool temperatures (82%). The size of the food service establishment had a less significant effect on shell egg preparation and handling practices than the type of the establishment. In particular, restaurants and institutional kitchens differed from each other. Restaurants purchased shell eggs more frequently, were more likely to store them at room temperature, stored shell eggs for a shorter period, and were more likely to prepare undercooked egg dishes than institutional kitchens. It was predicted that 6 to 20% of all different egg dishes prepared in a single randomly chosen food service establishment would be risky egg dishes with a 95% Bayesian credible interval of 0 to 96%, showing uncertainty because of the variability between kitchens and uncertainty in kitchen type-specific parameters. The results indicate that although most Finnish food service establishments had safe egg handling practices, a substantial minority expressed risky behavior. Compared with the egg consumption patterns in private Finnish households, however, practices in food service establishments did not prove to be more prone to risk.

Egg consumption patterns and Salmonella risk in Finland.

To estimate the consumer risk of contracting Salmonella infection via shell eggs and to evaluate the effect of possible preventative measures, quantitative microbiological risk assessment is being developed in Finland. As a part of the risk assessment, a survey of 918 respondents was conducted to study how households purchase, store, handle, and use eggs. In addition, suitability of the Internet as a survey method was compared with a postal survey. Shell eggs were usually purchased once every 2 weeks (41% of all the respondents). Ninety-one percent of the respondents bought eggs in groceries and 93% stored eggs at chilled temperatures. The majority of the respondents (80%) only had eggs in their home for which the best-before date had not expired. Only 34% of the respondents said that they always washed their hands after breaking eggs. Consumption of well-cooked eggs accounted for 84%, consumption of soft-boiled eggs for 12%, and consumption of raw eggs for 4% of the total amount of eggs consumed. The elderly used eggs more frequently than the whole population, but the consumption of raw egg dishes decreased with age. The Internet survey was a rapid method for transmitting information, but its response rate was low (9%), and it did not appear to be a suitable tool for data collection in a general population. The results indicate that although the majority of the respondents had safe egg-handling practices, a substantial minority of the consumers had risk-prone behavior.