A potent source of Salmonella Enteritidis (SE) is shell eggs; so potent that the Food and Drug Administration promulgated the extensive Egg Rule (21CFR16, 21CFR118) to reduce the incidence of SE at the egg production level. This rule has 13 provisions, with a producer being exempt from all but two minor provisions if shell eggs are further processed to receive a 5 log reduction. Indeed, it has been estimated that if all shell eggs in the U.S. received a 5 log pasteurization and were stored at 7.2°C within 0.5 days, yearly illnesses would be reduced from 130,000 to 2,700. The existing pasteurization approach of hot water immersion handles a very small number of the roughly 65 billion eggs produced annually in the U.S. and creates only a niche market. Large scale cost-effective pasteurization is clearly needed. In this symposium, experts in their fields will discuss the challenges of dealing with SE in shell eggs. This will include the most recent information on current shell egg pasteurization methods and promising novel intervention technologies including gaseous ozone, microwave heating and rapid cooling. Attendees will come away with an increased knowledge of the actual threat that SE poses, the current state of SE prevention in shell eggs and the anticipated approaches to eliminating it.

Presentations