High occurrences of Salmonella enterica serovar Enteritidis outbreak from table eggs
have been reported worldwide over the past two decades. Consumptions of hard-boiled
and half-boiled eggs are popular among Malaysians. However, there is a lack of study in
the risk assessment of salmonellosis associated with different egg consumption patterns.
The purpose of this study was to determine the survival rate of S. enterica ser. Enteritidis
in different methods for cooking eggs (hard-boiled, half-boiled and a minimally cooked
egg with hot cocoa drink) using the simulation model of consumers eating habits and the
risk associated with different egg consumptions patterns. In this study, S. enterica ser.
Enteritidis was not detected in the hard-boiled egg samples. However, the survival rate of
S. enterica ser. Enteritidis in both the half-boiled and the raw egg samples were 3.15 log
CFU/mL and 7.01 log CFU/mL, respectively. The Monte Carlo Simulation applying
quantitative microbial risk assessments (QMRA) was carried out using 10,000 iterations to
access the risk of acquiring salmonellosis by consuming eggs cooked under different heat
treatments. The total dosage of S. enterica ser. Enteritidis ingested per serving meal in the
hard-boiled, half-boiled and minimally cooked eggs were 0.00 CFU/g, 7.526×104 CFU/
mL and 5.433×108 CFU/mL, respectively. The consumptions of half-boiled and minimally
cooked eggs were above infectious dosage level (102
to 104 CFU/mL). The annual risk for
the three feature of methods were 0.00, 1.00 and 1.00, respectively. In this study, it was
indicated that there was a high probability of acquiring salmonellosis through the
consumption of half-boiled and minimally cooked eggs. Thus, the fully cooked eggs
should be taken instead of the undercooked eggs to avoid consuming S. enterica ser.
Enteritidis.