Shea Simmons
Look, we don’t want to be the ones telling you not to eat cookie dough. So, we’re going to let the Centers for Disease Control do it. The agency has issued another warning about cookie dough consumption, and even if you’ve ignored the ones before, you need to listen this time.
The CDC has warned against eating cookie dough again due to a multi-state salmonella outbreak that has sickened 12 people and three being hospitalized.
Here’s the most important part, though. As of press time, the CDC has not found the source of the contamination. The likely answer is uncooked flour, but the brand and type are unknown. That means any cookie dough could be a bad batch that simply hasn’t been discovered.
In their warning about the outbreak, the CDC explained that there could be more cases that have simply gone unreported and that states that don’t currently have cases could, in fact, have them. As of press time, California, Oregon, Nebraska, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Illinois, Tennessee, Ohio, Virginia, and New York have had cases.
Even if you break the CDC’s recommendation to avoid cookie dough, this warning might be one you want to take. But that doesn’t mean it’s okay to disregard their existing guidance (we just know people do). As for what that guidance is, it’s don’t eat raw cookie dough—ever.
On the agency’s site, there are warnings about raw flour (the supposed cause of the current Salmonella outbreak) and raw eggs. Both can cause food born illnesses.
But there is a bit of good news. You don’t have to fully give up cookie dough. Several brands now make edible cookie dough that’s made with heat-treated flour and pasteurized eggs or no eggs to make them safe.
The next time you’re baking cookies, don’t snack on the dough before baking.
