MEXICO, MAYONNAISE, AND MERIDA MIKEY

Hellmann’s (Best Foods) is my all-time favorite mayonnaise. Growing up, I remember being preached at to close the lid on the mayo jar as soon as I was done using it, and immediately put it back in the refrigerator. Same rules applied to potato salad or macaroni salad. That has stuck with me for years (60+) to be exact!

When I first started visiting Mexico I couldn’t help but to notice that most restaurants and food stands kept their jar of mayonnaise out in full view of the public! Shocking, I thought! When I began meeting some local folks, I noticed the already opened jar of mayonnaise sitting on the counter or in the cupboard in their homes, NOT refrigerated! How could this be, I pondered. It was at that very moment some 35 years ago that I stopped eating mayonnaise in Mexico unless it came out of my refrigerator! No salads prepared with mayonnaise either – not for me! Unrefrigerated mayonnaise! How dare they! Why aren’t they all doubled over with Salmonella poisoning and dying in the streets? I never quite understood it, but wrote it off to building up some sort of a super tolerance, coupled with eating lots of chili peppers. (Gringo mentality that I’m not proud of!)

I don’t know how the conversation came up recently, but it was again open for discussion with some friends. Does mayonnaise have to be refrigerated?? There were mixed reviews, so I went to the internet to search for a definitive answer.

Snopes (http://www.snopes.com/food/tainted/cutonions.asp) has a good take on this issue and tells us that the problem isn’t with the mayonnaise, but rather with the potato or onion you have put in your salad! Those are the guilty culprits, not my beloved Hellmann’s!

O. Peter Snyder, Jr., Ph.D., Hospitality Institute of Technology and Management,
670 Transfer Road, Suite 21A, St. Paul, MN 55114 USA,
(http://www.hi-tm.com/Documents/Mayonnaise.html) confirms the report from Snopes. Dr. Snyder goes on to explain that the ph level of commercially prepared mayonnaise is such that it precludes the growth of the Salmonella bacteria. This, coupled with the acidity level of mayonnaise makes it safe to leave out! And, according to "The Association for Dresses and Sauces," commercially available mayonnaise can be left out of the refrigerator for a long time and still be safe. Apparently, the eggs used in commercial mayo are pasteurized, killing bacteria like Salmonella. Also, they say, commercial mayo is sufficiently acidic to be unfavorable to bacteria that may be introduced after opening the jar.

Rather definitive for me, but, wow, was I taken back by this breaking news. However, old habits are hard to break. I am now not as paranoid about eating mayonnaise or mayonnaise based salads or dressings, but there is no way I’m leaving it on my counter or in my cupboard! As long as I have room for it in my refrigerator, that’s where it goes! And if I don’t have room, I’ll make room! And as far as eating mayonnaise from a restaurant, I’ve done without it for all these years, so why change now!

If you are inclined to let your mayonnaise stay out on the counter, or if you are content to eat mayonnaise or mayonnaise based salads and dressings while in Mexico, please do so with just a hint of caution. In my heart of hearts, I do believe it is safe to do so. However . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .