Who can resist eating some freshly made cookie dough? Literally no one. But like everything good in life, the FDA is here to ruin things. According to the Food and Drug Administration, eating raw cookie dough during the recent E. Coli outbreak has caused over 38 illnesses in 20 states. Yikes!
While people have some understanding of the risks associated with consuming raw eggs and the associated risk of Salmonella, there is another culprit to watch out for: flour. The bacteria E. Coli outbreak began in December of 2015, with half of those confirmed ill had recently made something at home with flour. The outbreak was then linked to a strain in General Mills flour, so the company consequently ordered a recall of 10 million pounds of flour.
Leslie Smoot, advisor in the FDA’s office of Food Safety says, “Flour is derived from a grain that comes directly from the field and typically is not treated to kill bacteria.” However, the harmful bacteria can be killed through boiling, baking, roasting, microwaving, or frying.
The FDA offers food-handling tips to keep yourself healthy, including not consuming raw dough, washing hands and cooking surfaces, and keeping raw foods separate from other foods. But come on — passing up raw chocolate chip cookie dough? Not gonna happen. There has to be another option! THERE HAS TO BE!!