Contaminanti chimici e pericoli microbiologici associati al consumo di uova da tavola nell’Unione Europea

Abstract

The sector of table eggs production has grown consistently in the last decades. The constant evolution of farming technology in the world changed the way we produce table eggs in order to satisfy the constant increasing demand. The world egg production is every year near 70 billion of tons. The European production covers 10% of the world production and many European countries are self-supplying, like Italy. Strict laws were created to control and prevent pathogens and toxic contaminants to enter this food-chain, thus reducing the threat for the public health system. The main objective of this degree thesis is to describe the microbiological pathogens and chemical contaminants that affect table eggs safety and eventually the actual European table eggs production public health situation. Bacteria can contaminate table eggs mostly during laying, penetrating the egg yolk or moving from the eggshell into the albumen. The main bacterial contaminant is Salmonella spp., which causes over 90 thousand of human cases per year in all Europe. Fortunately, salmonellosis clinical features are not life-threatening in most cases. Other producing-toxin bacteria like Bacillus cereus and Staphylococcus spp have been reported in some epidemic situations. The European control plan for most of these pathogens works efficiently and must be applied in order to reduce the incidence of human cases. Chemical contaminants can be considered more dangerous than bacteria. It’s more difficult to avoid them entering the food chain because of their environment resistance and bioaccumulation capacity. Historically, dioxins are the chemical compounds more frequently detected and feared in table eggs as well as in most foods of animal origin. Brominated flame retardants, veterinary drugs (mostly antibiotics and antiparasitics) are other frequently detected chemical contaminants. Fortunately, the last European reports show encouraging results (except for fipronil during last year). In conclusion, table eggs are mostly secure food for consumers and shouldn’t be considered a serious threat for public health, except for salmonellosis transmission. Managing better controls and laws will surely increase their safety consumption in Europe.