title: Egg consumption patterns and Salmonella risk in Finland.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Risk Assessment, National Veterinary and Food Research Institute, P.O. Box 45, 00581 Helsinki, Finland. satu.lievonen@eela.fi
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lievonen
authors.forename: A S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Havulinna
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Maiala
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000818:Animals; D003296:Cooking / Q000379:methods; D003625:Data Collection / Q000379:methods*; D004531:Eggs / Q000382:microbiology*; D005260:Female; D005387:Finland / Q000453:epidemiology; D005511:Food Handling / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D006920:Hygiene; D020407:Internet; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012478:Salmonella Food Poisoning / Q000453:epidemiology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires