Raw Egg Mayonnaise, Aioli and Dressings: Managing Salmonella Risk

House-made mayonnaise, aioli, hollandaise and Caesar dressings made with raw or lightly cooked egg are high-risk foods because eggs can carry Salmonella. To serve them safely, either acidify the sauce to pH 4.2 or lower, switch to pasteurised egg products, and always keep finished sauces at 5°C or colder. Treat raw-egg sauces as ready-to-eat and control time and temperature tightly to protect vulnerable customers. Key takeaways: Raw and lightly cooked egg sauces are high-risk, ready-to-eat foods that can carry Salmonella; handle them accordingly.. The two most reliable safeguards are acidifying the sauce to pH 4.2 or lower and using pasteurised egg products instead of raw shell egg.. Keep finished mayonnaise, aioli and dressings at 5°C or colder, and apply the 2-hour/4-hour rule to anything left out.. Make small batches, label with a use-by, and clean and sanitise equipment thoroughly to prevent cross-contamination.. Vulnerable groups (elderly, pregnant, very young, immunocompromised) should only be served egg sauces made with pasteurised egg.. Key controls at a glance: Control, Target, Why it matters. Acidification — pH 4.2 or lower — Stops Salmonella growing and reduces it over time. Egg choice — Pasteurised egg product — Removes the Salmonella hazard at source. Cold storage — 5°C or colder — Slows or stops bacterial growth. Danger zone limit — 2-hour/4-hour rule — Limits growth when sauce is out of the fridge. Batch labelling — Use-by date on every batch — Ensures old sauce is used first or discarded. Why raw egg sauces are high-risk Mayonnaise, aioli, hollandaise, bearnaise, Caesar dressing and many house dressings are built on raw or only lightly cooked egg. Eggs can be contaminated with Salmonella, either on the shell or occasionally inside the egg, and raw-egg sauces provide no cook step hot enough to reliably destroy it. These sauces are also ready-to-eat, meaning there is no further processing before a customer eats them, so any pathogen present goes straight to the plate. Salmonella has been repeatedly linked to foodborne illness outbreaks associated with raw-egg products in Australian food businesses, which is why regulators treat these sauces as a priority hazard. The combination of a vulnerable ingredient, no kill step and a ready-to-eat use makes robust controls essential rather than optional. Common raw-egg sauces: mayonnaise, aioli, hollandaise, bearnaise, Caesar dressing, some tartare and remoulade.. Lightly cooked does not mean safe: hollandaise and similar warm emulsions rarely reach a reliable Salmonella-killing temperature.. These are ready-to-eat foods, so contamination is not diluted or removed before service.. Acidification: the pH 4.2 rule Acidifying a raw-egg sauce is one of the most effective controls a kitchen can apply. Adding sufficient acid (typically lemon juice or vinegar) lowers the pH so that Salmonella cannot grow and, given time, dies off. The widely accepted target for raw-egg mayonnaise and similar sauces is a pH of 4.2 or lower throughout the product. Getting there reliably means measuring, not guessing. Use a calibrated pH meter (paper strips are not accurate enough for a control step), test each batch, and record the result. Acid must be evenly distributed, so blend thoroughly. Note that acidification controls Salmonella growth but is not an instant sterilisation; it works alongside cold storage and good hygiene, not instead of them. Target pH 4.2 or below for the finished sauce, verified with a calibrated pH meter.. Use enough acid (lemon juice, vinegar) and blend fully so the whole batch is acidified, not just the surface.. Record the pH of each batch as part of your food safety records.. Allow acidified sauce to hold refrigerated so the acid has time to act on any Salmonella present.. Pasteurised egg: the simplest safe swap The single easiest way to remove the Salmonella risk from an egg sauce is to stop using raw shell egg altogether. Pasteurised egg products (liquid whole egg, liquid yolk, or pasteurised in-shell eggs) have been heat-treated by the manufacturer to destroy Salmonella while remaining liquid and usable for emulsions. They perform well in mayonnaise, aioli and dressings and are strongly recommended wherever sauces will be served to vulnerable people or held for any length of time. Many businesses simply standardise on pasteurised egg for all raw-egg preparations to eliminate the hazard at source. Buy from a reputable supplier, follow the storage and use-by instructions on the pack, and keep opened product refrigerated and covered. Options include liquid pasteurised whole egg, liquid pasteurised yolk, and pasteurised in-shell eggs.. Best practice for any sauce served to elderly, pregnant, very young or immunocompromised customers.. Follow the manufacturer's storage, opening and use-by instructions exactly.. Standardising on pasteurised egg removes the need to rely on acidification alone.. Temperature control and the 2-hour/4-hour rule Finished mayonnaise, aioli and dressings are potentially hazardous foods and must be kept at 5°C or colder. Cold storage slows or stops Salmonella growth and preserves quality. Do not leave sauces sitting at room temperature during service; keep them in a refrigerated well or on ice, and return them to the fridge promptly. For any raw-egg sauce that does spend time between 5°C and 60°C, apply the 2-hour/4-hour rule: under 2 hours total in the danger zone means it can be refrigerated and used; between 2 and 4 hours it should be used immediately and not returned to the fridge; more than 4 hours means it must be discarded. Warm sauces such as hollandaise are especially risky because they sit in the danger zone by design, so make them to order and discard leftovers. Store and display finished sauces at 5°C or colder.. 2-hour/4-hour rule: under 2 hrs, refrigerate and use; 2 to 4 hrs, use now; over 4 hrs, discard.. Make warm emulsions (hollandaise, bearnaise) to order; do not hold them for long periods.. Keep service portions small and top up from the fridge rather than leaving a large batch out.. Handling, batching and cross-contamination Even a well-acidified or pasteurised sauce can be made unsafe by poor handling. Wash and sanitise all equipment (bowls, whisks, blenders, containers) before and after making sauces, because residues and biofilm can harbour bacteria. Practise good personal hygiene: clean hands, no bare-hand contact with ready-to-eat product where avoidable, and staff who are unwell should not handle food. Make small batches sized to what you will realistically use, rather than large tubs that sit for days. Store sauces in clean, covered, labelled containers and keep raw ingredients (especially raw egg and raw meat) separated from ready-to-eat sauces to prevent cross-contamination. Discipline around batching and labelling is often what separates a safe kitchen from a risky one. Clean and sanitise all utensils and containers before and after use.. Avoid bare-hand contact with ready-to-eat sauces; use clean utensils.. Keep raw egg and raw meat well away from finished sauces.. Make small, frequent batches instead of large long-life tubs.. Labelling, use-by dates and vulnerable customers Every batch of house-made sauce should be labelled with what it is and a use-by date so older product is used first and nothing lingers unnoticed. Set a conservative use-by based on your validated process and stick to it. Be especially careful with vulnerable customers: the elderly, pregnant women, infants and young children, and people who are immunocompromised are at far greater risk of serious illness from Salmonella. The safest approach is to serve these groups only sauces made with pasteurised egg, and to consider offering pasteurised-egg or commercially made alternatives across the menu. If you serve raw-egg products, be prepared to tell customers on request how the sauce was made. This is general guidance only; confirm specific requirements with your state or territory regulator and local council. Label every batch with contents and a use-by date; rotate stock first-in-first-out.. Serve pasteurised-egg sauces to elderly, pregnant, very young and immunocompromised customers.. Be ready to explain to customers whether a sauce contains raw egg.. Confirm any state, territory or council-specific rules with the relevant regulator.. Checklist: Use pasteurised egg product, or acidify raw-egg sauce to pH 4.2 or lower.. Verify pH with a calibrated meter and record each batch.. Store and display finished sauces at 5°C or colder.. Apply the 2-hour/4-hour rule to any sauce out of the fridge.. Clean and sanitise all equipment before and after making sauces.. Label every batch with contents and a use-by date.. Make small, frequent batches instead of large long-life tubs.. Serve pasteurised-egg sauces to vulnerable customers.. Common mistakes: Assuming lemon juice or vinegar makes a sauce safe without measuring the actual pH.. Using pH paper strips instead of a calibrated pH meter for a control step.. Leaving mayonnaise or aioli out at room temperature throughout service.. Treating lightly cooked hollandaise as if it were fully cooked and safe.. Making large batches that sit refrigerated for days without a use-by date.. Serving raw-egg sauces to elderly, pregnant or immunocompromised customers..