Between 2001 and 2008 the number of Australians sickened by egg-related salmonella outbreaks rose from 96 to a staggering 753. The rate fell to 358 in 2009, but eggs are still responsible for more than a third of all foodborne outbreaks linked to the pathogen.

So says The Sydney Morning Herald tomorrow (today, depending on time zone) based on records that show the increase can be, in part, traced to lax food safety practices, inadequate farm regulations and the power of retailers to influence food laws.

Martyn Kirk, a senior lecturer in epidemiology at the Australian National University, said eggs had become the most common cause of food-related disease outbreaks.

Restaurants are responsible for the bulk of poisonings: 40 per cent. And while cooking will kill salmonella, restaurants are allowed to serve foods containing raw eggs.

”Most of the vehicles we see associated with outbreaks are foods where the eggs are completely uncooked; things like chocolate mousse, tiramisu, hollandaise sauce and aolis,” Mr Kirk said.

While egg producers in NSW are now required to be licensed with the NSW Food Authority, no government body conducts regular bacterial tests on eggs, or monitors the presence of salmonella on farms.

”In recent years there has been less surveillance in animal populations unless there has been a commercial interest,” said Dr Kirk, who believes salmonella monitoring should be undertaken on farms.

After washing and grading, many eggs are sent to retailers where they are placed on the shelf for sale.

A risk assessment commissioned by the Australian Egg Corporation in 2004 found refrigerating eggs could reduce outbreaks of salmonella. The lead author of the report, the microbiologist Connor Thomas, told the Herald salmonella cannot grow in temperatures below seven degrees, and refrigeration reduces the breakdown of protective membranes inside the egg that stop the bacteria’s growth.

”There can be no denying that keeping eggs cooled substantially increases their storage life and their safety,” said Dr Thomas, of the University of Adelaide.

But last month Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) quietly introduced changes to the food standards code, omitting any regulations related to temperature control.

A spokeswoman for FSANZ said it chose to exclude refrigeration requirements from the standard, in part, because of ”the substantial cost of implementing such an option.”