Hierarchical dataset of Salmonella spp. and Escherichia coli culture results in commercial eggs from Ibarra, Ecuador

This dataset supports a cross-sectional food-safety study conducted on commercial hen eggs purchased from eight retail outlets in Ibarra Canton, Ecuador. The database contains linked records organised at three hierarchical analytical levels: 80 eggs, 240 anatomical specimens corresponding to shell, albumen and yolk, and 480 pathogen-specific culture tests targeting Salmonella spp. and Escherichia coli. The dataset includes egg-level positivity, specimen-level microbiological results, pathogen-specific test outcomes, quantitative bacterial counts for culture-positive specimens, retail-sector classification, anatomical component, and identifiers that permit linkage among the three analytical levels. The verified dataset contains 10 Salmonella spp.-positive tests involving nine eggs, eight Escherichia coli-positive tests involving seven eggs, and 10 eggs positive for at least one of the two pathogens. The deposited package includes the complete master database in Microsoft Excel format, machine-readable CSV files, a data dictionary, design metadata, a data-audit document, a file manifest, a citation template, and integrity checksums. The database was reconstructed and audited from the primary study records and dissertation tables. Pathogen–specimen combinations not reported as positive were coded as negative because the source documented the complete analytical framework and the exact number of positive tests. Quantitative bacterial counts are available only for culture-positive specimens; blank count fields for negative cultures must not be interpreted as zero. Retail outlet identifiers were available only for positive specimens and were not imputed for negative records. These data may support research on food safety, zoonotic pathogens, commercial egg contamination, epidemiological surveillance, antimicrobial resistance, and microbiological risk assessment in Ecuador and comparable Latin American settings.