CDC warns Americans not to eat raw cookie dough

(AP) – The holidays are upon us and for many that means family time in the kitchen preparing delicious baked goods — and maybe even licking the spoon before the cookies go into the oven. However, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) put out a warning this week to, “Say No To Raw Dough!”

Dr. Todd Ellerin — who admits he doesn’t bake — said it’s the raw flour and uncooked eggs that can make us sick.

The Director of Infectious Diseases at South Shore Hospital in Weymouth, Massachusetts and an instructor at Harvard Medical School says, “People may not be aware that flour is not treated to destroy bacteria and there have been outbreaks of a certain type of E. coli linked to the ingestion of raw dough,” said Ellerin, director of infectious diseases at South Shore Hospital in Weymouth, Massachusetts and an instructor at Harvard Medical School.

In 2016, an outbreak of E. coli infections linked to raw flour made 63 people sick.

Ellerin warned that, “complications of this type of E. coli can include bloody diarrhea, need for prolonged hospitalization, and kidney failure, breakdown of red blood cells that carry oxygen.”

Additionally, raw eggs that are used to make raw dough or batter can contain a germ called salmonella that can make you sick if the eggs aren’t cooked.

Salmonella symptoms typically include diarrhea, fever, and abdominal cramps. In most cases, illness lasts four to seven days and people recover without antibiotics. Illness from Salmonella bacteria can be serious and is more dangerous for older adults, infants, and people with weakened immune systems.

Dr. Ellerin warns, “We are used to hearing ‘Ho Ho Ho Merry Christmas,’ but in the kitchen as we are preparing to make cookies, it should be ‘Ho Ho Ho, please avoid the raw dough!’”

To read the CDC’s study on raw cookie dough, click here.