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Can cookie dough be a health hazard?
When I bake cookies I usually let my kids stick their fingers in the dough to taste a sample. Now a friend claims that they can get sick this way. I can't believe this one-what could be wrong with cookie dough?!
You may not want to hear this, but it's true: That cozy domestic scene could be setting the stage for illness.

With any homemade food that contains raw eggs, such as cookie dough, cake batter, and eggnog, there is a risk of infection by salmonella bacteria. Salmonella poisoning is the second most common type of food poisoning, bringing on stomach cramps, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea.

When you buy commercially prepared versions of foods that contain eggs, the salmonella risk is gone, according to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Commercial products are made with pasteurized eggs-eggs that have been heated enough to kill bacteria, and that also may contain an acidifying agent that kills the bacteria.

You don't have to give up cookie dough, though. The FDA says that the store-bought kinds are not a food hazard. If you hate to give up that made-from-scratch feeling of accomplishment, you can substitute pasteurized eggs for raw eggs. You can find pasteurized eggs in the refrigerated dairy case at your grocery store. (from Medformation.com)

Normal wrote:

Can cookie dough be a health hazard?
With any homemade food that contains raw eggs, such as cookie dough, cake batter, and eggnog, there is a risk of infection by salmonella bacteria.

When you buy commercially prepared versions of foods that contain eggs, the salmonella risk is gone, according to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
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You don't have to give up cookie dough, though. The FDA says that the store-bought kinds are not a food hazard. If you hate to give up that made-from-scratch feeling of accomplishment, you can substitute pasteurized eggs for raw eggs.

Fresh eggs with shells intact were once thought to be sterile inside. Today, scientists know that fresh, unbroken shell eggs may contain the harmful bacteria Salmonella enteritidis. While the number of eggs affected is less than 1 in 10,000, there have been scattered outbreaks of foodborne illness due to this organism in the past several years. And, fresh, unbroken shell eggs are now considered to be one on the growing list of potentially hazardous foods.

The risk of foodborne illness from eating raw eggs is particularly serious for people who are vulnerable to bacterial infections. These people include the elderly whose immune systems weaken with age, infants whose immune systems are not fully developed, chronically ill people with weakened immune systems, and pregnant women because of risk to the fetus. The risk of foodborne illness from eating raw eggs is particularly serious for people who are vulnerable to bacterial infections. These people include the elderly whose immune systems weaken with age, infants whose immune systems are not fully developed, chronically ill people with weakened immune systems, and pregnant women because of risk to the fetus. (Kansas State University, 1995)

According to the survey, which sampled UK-produced eggs on sale in shops and markets, one in every 290 boxes of six eggs on sale has any salmonella contamination, compared with one in 100 in a 1995/96 survey. (UK Food Standards Agency, March 2004)

Normal wrote:

While the number of eggs affected is less than 1 in 10,000, there have been
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According to the survey, which sampled UK-produced eggs on sale in shops and markets, one in every 290 boxes of six eggs on sale has any salmonella contamination, compared with one in 100 in a 1995/96 survey. (UK Food Standards Agency, March 2004)

LoyalTubist wrote:I never offer chocolate to dogs or cats, but they seem to have a suicidal instinct of enjoying chocolate!

tbn.al wrote:My 26 year old son hardly ever gets a chance to eat a cookie because he always locates the dough before anyone has a chance to cook it. He has eaten hundreds of pounds of the stuff and never been sick. The only time he ever got sick at his stomach was at Marti Gras on a slice of pizza from a street vendor. That's his story and he is sticking to it.