Standardized laboratory-scale preparation of mayonnaise containing low levels of Salmonella enterica serovar Enteritidis

Salmonella enterica serovar Enteritidis PT4 and PT6 are associated with food poisoning outbreaks and are often found in food only in low concentrations. In this study a reproducible laboratory-scale procedure for preparation of mayonnaise is presented. The mayonnaise that simulates a naturally low-level contaminated product can be used for validation of new methods and is also suitable to study the behavior of low numbers of food pathogenic spoilage microorganisms in a food environment. During processing, liquid egg was artificially contaminated with low levels of S. enterica serovar Enteritidis that resulted in levels of 1 to 3 log10 CFU/g in the final mayonnaise. Cells of S. enterica serovar Enteritidis had increased stability in the mayonnaise when they were subjected to low pH in two stages, first to pH 5.8 and afterward to pH 4.5 before addition to the mayonnaise. The pH of the mayonnaise was between 4.2 to 4.5 and remained stable over the storage period. Low-level S. enterica serovar Enteritidis remained stable in artificially contaminated mayonnaise for 4 weeks at 4 degrees C.