I can’t imagine a life avoiding chicken and tuna salad. They are delicious. I’ve never gotten sick from either, whether eaten at a deli or a church picnic.

That being said, I would imagine the chicken is more risky given that you have to account for whether the person properly cooked the chicken before assembling the salad.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Microbiologist here.

As another poster said, suspect rich sauces first, such as mayo.

Neither of the foods you mention are particularly risky to consume, except perhaps for pregnant women, who need to watch out for heavy metals in large fish and possibility of salmonella and other bacteria in poorly washed raw produce and runny eggs.

I might give the edge to the chicken salad if the chicken was home-cooked and hadn't reached 165. The tuna in tuna salad was likely canned so they definitely get that hot enough.

And canned tuna esp light has less mercury than tuna steaks

https://www.betterhomesquad.com/how-long-mayo-last-unrefrigerated/

Not the mayo

Anonymous wrote:Whichever one has not been kept at the correct temperature.

This is true of any salad too. Bagged salads are a huge culprit of food poisoning. But people like to blame only meat or mayo.

Bagged salad, the issues is usually contamination at some point of handling, not a temperature control issue.

Your question suggest you know nothing about food poisoning.

Chicken salad. But really either of them if not prepared / stored properly.

Really neither. I think a lot of food safety rules are actually way too overcautious. I left a bottle of kewpie Mayo out for days and still ate it and it was just fine.

Anonymous wrote:Microbiologist here.

As another poster said, suspect rich sauces first, such as mayo.

Neither of the foods you mention are particularly risky to consume, except perhaps for pregnant women, who need to watch out for heavy metals in large fish and possibility of salmonella and other bacteria in poorly washed raw produce and runny eggs.

I might give the edge to the chicken salad if the chicken was home-cooked and hadn't reached 165. The tuna in tuna salad was likely canned so they definitely get that hot enough.

And canned tuna esp light has less mercury than tuna steaks

Anonymous wrote:I’ve never been sick from either one of these foods.

Me neither. I probably wouldn't eat either if they were sitting out in the hot sun for hours, but besides that they've never been an issue under normal circumstances.

Microbiologist here.

As another poster said, suspect rich sauces first, such as mayo.

Neither of the foods you mention are particularly risky to consume, except perhaps for pregnant women, who need to watch out for heavy metals in large fish and possibility of salmonella and other bacteria in poorly washed raw produce and runny eggs.

I’ve never been sick from either one of these foods.

It's the mayo, not the protein.

The factors are time and temperature, not type of protein.

Whichever one has not been kept at the correct temperature.

This is true of any salad too. Bagged salads are a huge culprit of food poisoning. But people like to blame only meat or mayo.

I have eaten both for decades made outside the home and have never gotten sick. My husband did once get sick after eating a tuna salad sandwich - it was purchased from a food cart that operated in the lobby of his office building - again this is once in many decades.

I always thought mayo was the potential problem which both chicken and tuna salad often contain.

I would focus on the general food safety practices of the vendor.

I usually avoid eating either not made at home because I was always told these two were most likely to make you sick.

Is there evidence of that?