Providing food safety advice without preaching is tricky.

Matching the advice with what happens in reality is damn hard.

Amy, Sorenne and I are hanging out in Canberra – Australia’s capital — for the next couple of days while Amy goes to a French conference and Sorenne teaches me how to play Minecraft.

Dinner last night, including chicken wings and potato-somethings, were both served with aioli.

I asked the server, how was the aioli prepared, is it a commercial product or is it made with raw eggs?

Oh, we make our own aioli. We would never buy the commercial product.

No thanks.

Amy said, serve it on the side, I’ll take the risk.

So did Sorenne, although we did have a chat about microbiology (seize those learning moments).

This in context of health authorities warning people to take precautions to prevent salmonella poisonings, with 201 cases already reported in late November as temperatures start to climb.

Of the 4.1 million cases of food poisoning in Australia each year around a third of reported outbreaks are linked to raw or lightly cooked eggs.

Dr Vicky Sheppeard, Directors of Communicable Diseases at NSW Health said the best defence against salmonellosis was careful food preparation and food storage.

“Products containing undercooked eggs, and the spread of germs in the kitchen, are the most common source of salmonellosis outbreaks in NSW.”

NSW Food Authority CEO Dr Lisa Szabo said using commercially produced products instead of handmade mayonnaise and sauces when preparing food also reduced the risk of Salmonella poisoning.

“It is also much safer to use commercially pasteurised eggs rather than raw eggs in ready-to-eat products such as desserts and dressings,” DrSzabo said.

Good luck with that.