Are you able to eat uncooked cookie dough? What to know amid a brand new recall and salmonella issues.

For lots of oldsters, the most effective a part of baking cookies is licking the spoon afterward. However cookie dough — scrumptious although it could be — additionally comes with lots of warnings about foodborne illnesses on account of the uncooked egg and flour it usually (however not at all times) accommodates. Living proof: The Food & Drug Administration introduced simply this week that nearly 30,000 cases of cookie dough had been recalled throughout 21 states attributable to potential salmonella contamination.

When you actually wish to keep away from the recalled merchandise (which embody manufacturers like Panera and Costco), the recall might make you surprise if all cookie dough is unsafe to eat. Right here’s what consultants need you to know.

Is uncooked cookie dough unsafe to eat?

If it accommodates flour and uncooked eggs, then sure. Each are substances which will include salmonella micro organism, resulting in threat of foodborne sickness. Uncooked flour may additionally be contaminated with E. coli, one other micro organism that may trigger foodborne sickness.

“The expectation by meals producers is that the buyer will bake the cookie dough, guaranteeing the salmonella has been killed and the cookies rendered protected,” meals scientist Bryan Quoc Le tells Yahoo Life. He notes, nonetheless, that if there are too many salmonella micro organism cells, even baking cookies is probably not sufficient to remove all threat — therefore the latest recall of cookie dough.

Meals security skilled Darin Detwiler tells Yahoo Life that the dangers of foodborne sickness are better with susceptible populations. This contains people who find themselves pregnant, the aged, younger kids and the immunocompromised, who can all have considerably worse outcomes from salmonella or E. coli contamination than folks with wholesome, functioning immune methods.

Typical signs of salmonella embody diarrhea, fever and stomach cramps. If it spreads to your bloodstream (a situation known as bacteremia) it may possibly additionally result in infections throughout the rest of your body. Signs of E. coli embody diarrhea (which will be bloody), stomach cramps and nausea, with essentially the most extreme instances probably resulting in kidney failure.

Is there actually no cookie dough that’s suitable for eating?

Excellent news: There are manufacturers of store-bought cookie dough which might be suitable for eating. Based on Detwiler, these merchandise are usually labeled as “edible cookie dough” and guarantee security by warmth treating the flour (to kill any potential E. coli micro organism) and utilizing pasteurized eggs, which have been handled to remove salmonella.

Alternatively, these merchandise might skip the eggs completely. (Granola butter model Oat Haus additionally sells cookie dough-flavored granola butter, which you’ll gown up with your personal chocolate chips or different toppings for an additional dose of sweetness.)

Whereas it’s doable to buy pasteurized eggs within the grocery retailer, Le doesn’t suggest attempting to make edible cookie dough at residence with flour, due to how tough it may be to correctly warmth deal with flour. “Sure strains of salmonella are very heat-resistant in flour,” he cautions.