At 06:59 AM 4/18/03 -0400, gbecket@aol.com wrote:

>I don't know what you put in your salad but if it has mayo, I wanted to give
>you an idea: last summer I went to a barbecue with some southern potato salad
>I made which included mayonnaise in the recipe and people got sick as it was
>sitting out on the picnic table for hours so I now use Nayonnaise, which is a
>soy-based "mayo" and doesn't include the raw egg.

While this may seem completely off topic, I'll try my best to make it
relevant. :-) According to food researchers, and countering everything your
mother ever told you, comercially prepared mayonnaise is *not* the culprit
in food poisonings such as these. The eggs are pasteurized, unlike those in
homemade mayonnaises. In fact, some research indicates that commercial
mayo's vinegar content actually inhibits growth of bacteria.

Check out these links from The Association for Dressings and Sauces for
some theories and scientific citations. (By the way, their PR campaign to
repair mayo's tainted reputation even includes a brochure entitled,
"Mayonnaise: The Misunderstood Dressing." Bonus points to anyone who can
get a copy of this page turner!)

http://www.dressings-sauces.org/mayoo.pdf
http://www.dressings-sauces.org/pr2.html

Some people (I, however, am not one of them) store opened jars of mayo in
their kitchen cabinets instead of in the refrigerator. Even the Hellman's
mayo site FAQs say refrigeration is to maintain flavor and stability, not
to prevent spoilage:

http://www.mayo.com/faqs.asp#Mayo_Storage

Note the conspicuous lack of dire warnings indicating that safe mayo
practices require refrigeration. What the FAQs do warn about is that
recipes *containing* mayo frequently have other perishable ingredients and
that's why refrigeration is important. The mayo itself is not the culprit.

http://www.mayo.com/faqs.asp#Mayo_Food_Safety

So definitely put the trailer trash macaroni on ice if there are perishable
ingredients, but don't be afraid of our poor maligned friend the mayo.

Have fun at the gathering! I'm looking forward to the day when there are
more LBers in the Finger Lakes area of New York so we can plan a gathering
of our own.


TurtleMcQ

http://www.letterboxing.info/turtlemcq.shtml