Raw Eggs & Food Safety in Restaurant Foodservice

Egg Safety in Restaurants

Why are pasteurized shell eggs so important to food safety in restaurants?

For restaurants, it is rare that a product can improve food safety while improving operational efficiencies. Davidson’s Safest Choice® can achieve exactly that. By eliminating the primary source for food-borne illness and cross-contamination, restaurateurs can remove costly steps and techniques designed precisely to reduce risk from shell eggs. This can also reduce training time and complexity as employees are required to learn and perfect fewer procedures because risk has been reduced before the eggs arrive at the restaurant.

There are many food industry costs that are reduced when adding pasteurized shell eggs in place of unpasteurized: training, materials, product, personnel, audits, fines, menu changes, operational procedures, productivity, lost sales, documentation, business disruption, medical, legal, insurance, business recovery, closing costs.

Serving safe food is not an option legally, morally or financially. Restaurant operators must be sure they have done everything available and possible to avoid the risks of Salmonella in their restaurants.

Making certain that egg-related Salmonella doesn't cross-contaminate your employees, your kitchen or your patrons is a top priority. This, however, is difficult when even one of the shell eggs coming in the back door has the potential to contaminate. This battle is not simple and certainly not without cost. Every food operation manager can only hope he/she took all possible actions to eliminate the worst of the cost outcomes; legal, medical and business recovery or closure. Unfortunately, it’s not always enough. The many independent and chain restaurants that have experienced an outbreak can testify to the unprecedented level of disruption, remorse, lost momentum and financial loss a single foodborne event can create for a business.

With Pasteurized Shell Eggs Restaurants Can:

  1. Eliminate introduction of egg-related Salmonella into your operation.
  2. Eliminate the need for egg warning signs and menu notifications as with unpasteurized eggs.
  3. Offer guests egg dishes served any way they like. You can now offer sunny-side up, poached or eggs Benedict with confidence they will be safe.
  4. Allow chefs to expand their menus to include such dishes as original Caesar salads, custards and cream pies with fresh meringue, mousses, tiramisu, aioli, Béarnaise, hollandaise and other favorite sauces or dishes made with real shell eggs. Achieve quality through culinary techniques that have been previously abandoned because of risk.
  5. Include senior friendly service. Greater than 50% of leisure dining is done by people over 55 years of age. With the U.S. Food Code requiring that soft cooked eggs can only be served if made from pasteurized shell eggs when serving this age group, it only makes sense to promote and serve "Senior Friendly" products like Davidson’s Safest Choice® for the safety of your patrons. This safety advantage also applies to kids’ menus.
  6. Short of requesting details from every guest, it would require a restaurant to either ignore the risks or otherwise guess the age, health level or possible pregnancy condition of an individual to be sure they are not among those within the high risk group. To meet the FDA Food Code best practices and deliver the safest food to your guests, it is only prudent to offer pasteurized shell eggs.
  7. Always have pasteurized eggs on hand to make their own egg wash or prepare any dish calling for multiple eggs, whether cooked or raw. This especially applies to the many items made in the kitchen that a guest may not even be aware contain eggs and thus could not be expected to avoid.
  8. Avoid the possibility of egg-related illness to guests or staff, eliminating insurance claims and loss of goodwill from illness due to shell eggs.
  9. Avoid health department critical violations.

For more information or to place an order, please contact us.

Pasteurized Shell Egg Fact Sheets

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For more information or to place an order, contact us: 800-410-7619.