Study of Colonization of Pathogenic Bacteria on Raw Eggshells

Raw and semi-boiled eggs can be source of food borne infections like typhoid. A study of bacterial colonization of raw eggshells is hence very important, but very few studies are available in this aspect from this part of the country. Hundred randomly selected raw eggshell samples were cultured on selective and enrichment media, and also liquid anaerobic culture. It was found that mostly the shells were contaminated by coagulase negative Staphylococcus spp., Bacillus cereus and Staphylococcus aureus, and rarely by Salmonella typhii. Anaerobic culture also showed Clostridium-like bacteria in some. This is an important finding and more such studies are required regarding this.