NOTEWORTHY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY!
This is a season of cookie baking…and the verdict is in…eat cookie dough at the risk of getting sick.
Yes, sick…really sick from e-coli (bacteria found in feces) and salmonella.
Salmonella can be traced to eating raw eggs.
E-coli, it turns out has been found in flour.
Just a few days ago, I was baking chocolate chip cookies from a prepared Betty Crocker cookie mix, that happens to be one of my favorites. On the package I noticed a warning “Do Not Eat Raw Dough”. Now, I suspected that it was due to the salmonella risk but after reading the NYT article I believe it was also related to the e-coli risk as well.
I hope that you all enjoy whatever holiday you celebrate this time of year and that if tempted by the delicious smell of cookie dough you resist “tasting” it or giving it to your kids.
One study that looked at commercial wheat flour samples found almost 13 percent contaminated with E. coli. The investigators also pointed out that wheat flour can also be contaminated with Salmonella, and that flour-based mixes have previously been implicated in outbreaks of food-borne illness.