Contributor factors for the occurrence of salmonellosis during preparation, storage and consumption of homemade mayonnaise salad

• 493 people answered a questionnaire about preparing, storage and consumption of HMS.
• Indexes were created to analyze the profile of food handlers and consumers of HMS.
• Weighted Good Practice and Weighted Outbreak Prevention Indexes were medium level.
• Weighted Harmonic Outbreak Prevention Index was low level for majority of people.
• The MCA showed a consumer perform multiple good or bad practices simultaneously.

ABSTRACTThis study aimed to analyze the impact of practices adopted for preparation, storage and consumption of homemade mayonnaise salad (HMS) as contributor factors for the occurrence of salmonellosis. A total of 493 individuals answered a questionnaire composed of demographic and socioeconomic questions and, preparing, storage and consumption practices of HMS. The level of good hygiene practices (GHP) of respondents was calculated using Good Practice and Outbreak Prevention Indexes. The consumer behavior and the correlation between practices were performed using Multiple Correspondence Analysis (MCA). 75% of respondents consume HMS, being 43% of interviewers doing this at least once per month. HMS was prepared from 30 min to 1 h before being served by 46% of individuals, it remaining for 30 min to 1 h at room temperature during the meal by 63% of people. Furthermore, 51% of respondents left the HMS container open or improperly closed, which may lead to cross-contamination. Most respondents (66%) stated reuse the HMS for less than one day (44%), at once (76%). 77% of participants declared that they prepare HMS, being only 7% preparing HMS without eggs. The majority (51%) used a cooked and a raw egg yolk. In addition, 75% of the cases showed raw eggs in recipe. The Weighted Good Practice Index, Weighted Outbreak Prevention Index and Weighted Harmonic Outbreak Prevention Index were 63%, 62% and 27% of participants, respectively. The MCA gathered the participants into two groups one commits various errors and other commits few errors on GHP. Thus, a consumer would probably perform multiple either good or bad practices simultaneously.