Salmonella question

I had a caesar salad last night at a restaurant, and now I'm feeling guilty because my book said not to have that because there could be raw eggs in the dressing that could give you salmonella poisoning. If I were to get salmonella poisoning from the dressing, when would I see the symptoms? Just want to make sure I'm okay! thanks.

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I think you would get sick v. quickly? Although I'm not sure.
What restaurant was it? Very few make their own dressings anymore.

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Maguire's on Fire Island...i think it was homemade.

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Most places nowadays that make their own Ceasar dressing coddle the eggs.

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I did my PhD thesis on Salmonella gastroenteritis!!!
It is rare that there is a problem - IF they used unpasteurized raw eggs (not too many places do this anymore), they would have had to leave the dressing out at room temp for a while so that IF there were bacteria there they had time to grow to sufficient numbers to make you sick.

IF you did get Salmonella (which is unlikely), the symptoms would be abdominal cramping and diarrhea +/- nausea and would take up to 7 days to start. Because you are pregnant, IF you had Salmonella, they would give you antibiotics. (for healthy, non-preggo adults, they usually do not treat Salmonella because it is a self-limiting illness).

It is VERY unlikely that you got Salmonella from the Caesar salad.

In the unlikey even that you get bacterial gastroenteritis, you will know it. It is not comfortable. Go to the dr. and be prepared to give a detailed history on what you have eaten and when and where and a stool sample. They would culture your stool and look for Salmonella bacteria. If you have Salmonella, it would be reported to Public Health and the restaurant would hear about it! restaurants of good reputation do NOT want to make people sick (VERY bad publicity), so they are anal about food safety. If there was something wrong with the dressing, everyone who ate it that night would be sick, too, and there would be a huge epidemiological investigation, reports on the news, etc.

I don't mean any of this in a preachy way. I hope it makes you feel better that it is practically 100% that you would not get Salmonella from your salad!

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Thanks for the info nyctosea. That makes me feel a lot better!

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I have been using caesar dressing

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My Dr. told me ceasar salads were fine.

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I did have an awful reaction to ceasar salad dressing once (pre pregnancy). To this day I don't know if it was a reaction to raw egg or the anchovie paste they sometimes make the dressing with, but it came on fast and furious. My body swelled (to the point where my eyes were almost swelled shut), I was burning up, vomiting and had the runs. It was awful! It's hard to miss!!!

eta: I don't know if it was salmonella or an allergic reaction though.

Message edited 8/4/2006 10:55:20 AM.

Re: Salmonella question

I've had salmonella poisoning from raw chicken in 98. You would know. I didnt feel anything until about 3-4 days after I ate it. Severe diahrea and abdominal cramping and I was on vacation in Martinique Club Med. Didnt even know I had it! It was in my system for 3 months, yes months Dr.s told me I was very lucky it didnt go into my bloodstream. what finally brought me to the doctor was the pain in my stomach from just drinking water. I still had the diahrea too but it would go on and off where I could control it somewhat. It was bad.

Dont worry, I had blue cheese dressing I think I was 8 weeks at the time and then found out that was a no no too.
Im sure you are fine, dont stress either b/c you could make yourself sick too.