There's Another Reason to Not Eat Raw Cookie Dough

Recent research has revealed another danger lurking in uncooked dough: tenacious E. coli can survive in dry flour. Learn how scientists figured it out in this episode of BrainStuff.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome to brain Stuff from How Stuff Works. Hi brain
Stuff Lauren Vogel Bomb. Here, everyone has that one friend,
you know, the kill joy who can't help attaint a
perfectly pleasant conversation with an unsolicited, soul crushing truth bomb.
Apologies are in order. This episode is about to be
the kill joy of your podcast stream today. That's because

(00:23):
amidst the cheer and anticipation of the holiday season, something
truly disturbing has come to our attention, and it involves
a wintertime staple, raw cookie dough. According to a new
study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, eating
raw foods made with flour a k A delicious unbaked
goods like cookies could make you dangerously sick. While health
experts have long known that a type of E. Coli

(00:45):
bacteria commonly reside in wet environments like leafy vegetables and
raw meat, the study confirms that the same type of
bacteria can lurk in dry habitats like flower too. The
study covers the details that lead to a recall of
more than ten million pounds of flow hour that's about
four thousand, five hundred metric tons, and of two and
fifty potentially contaminated raw flower based products in A United

(01:09):
States Food and Drug Administration investigation determined that raw dough
made using General Mills flour produced on some dates between
November and February was tainted. A statement from the FDA
said flower has a long shelf life, and bags of
flower may be kept in people's homes for a long time.
Consumers unaware of the recall could continue to eat these

(01:31):
recalled flowers and potentially get sick. If consumers have any
of these recalled flowers in their homes, they should throw
such flower products away. The studies authors say they're not
trying to ruin people's holidays. They just don't want anyone
to get sick, and consuming even a small amount of
raw flower from these tainted batches could lead to a
pretty unpleasant bout of illness. More than a quarter of

(01:52):
the fifty six patients affected across twenty four states were hospitalized,
and some of their symptoms included mild fever, abdominal pain,
vom ng and so sorry bloody diarrhea, though all the
patients raging in age from one years eventually recovered. If
cautionary tales around raw cookie does sound familiar, it's probably
because the consumption of raw eggs and another key ingredient

(02:14):
has long been known to carry risks. A General Mills
spokesperson encouraged consumers to continue avoiding raw batter in the
future because flour can't be heat treated to prevent contamination
and potential outbreaks, not without impacting its performance. The takeaway
here you can still have your cookies, just spake them too.

(02:37):
Today's episode was written by Michelle Konstantinovsky and produced by
Tristan McNeil. For more on this and lots of other
scientific kill joys, visit our home planet, how stuff Works
dot com.