After reading this, it's no more Nestle cookie dough for me

"Linda Rivera has just been trying to stay alive. Her cascading problems started about seven days after she ate the dough when her kidneys shut down and she went into septic shock." And it gets worse. (Washington Post)

Comments

[Soo]

I get a lot of guff from the grandparents, my hubby and my friends because I never let my kids "lick the beaters" or clean the bowl when I make cake, or sample the raw cookie dough when I make cookies.

It's common sense. No, I don't expect to get E.coli from my cookie dough, but I do expect to get salmonella, and that's enough for me to keep temptation at bay. Hell, I don't even risk cookie-dough ice cream.

Regardless, I feel bad for the lady. We were all brought up eating stuff we've since found out we shouldn't. It's hard to resist.

[Mark]

I feel very bad for this woman as well..

Wouldn't cooking the dough eliminate the E. coli??

That's the reason I thought we cooked food...

[Lou Sussler]

Soo's right, while this is a terribly sad story; I'm pretty sure there was a warning on the old packaging too saying that the product shouldn't be consumed raw.

The only time it's okay to consume something like that raw IMO is when you are in control or are aware to a certainty of the origin of each of the ingredients.

Also, how could it cost $3.00 per package to recall the dough? It doesn't cost nearly that much to manufacture and distribute?

[twerp]

www.recalls.gov

It's a great website to keep track of product recalls. Does anybody else remember the massive cookie dough recall a few weeks ago?

[stopeatingmysesamecake]

Dang. I love raw cookie dough.

[buddy]

now that is sexy.

[Phranqlin]

One food safety nightmare after another -- tainted cookie dough, tainted spinach, tainted beef, tainted peanut butter ... the list goes on. A lot of this contamination is caused by common agribusiness practices. And a bunch of these cases were caused by corporations cutting corners and lack of regulatory enforcement. Not to mention that factory farming is pretty much a petri dish for crap like MRSA and exciting new varieties of influenza.

You'd think we'd have come a lot further since Upton Sinclair wrote The Jungle and cracked open the meat packing industry, but no.

[Phranqlin]

One food safety nightmare after another -- tainted cookie dough, tainted spinach, tainted beef, tainted peanut butter ... the list goes on. A lot of this contamination is caused by common agribusiness practices. And a bunch of these cases were caused by corporations cutting corners and lack of regulatory enforcement. Not to mention that factory farming is pretty much a petri dish for crap like MRSA and exciting new varieties of influenza.

You'd think we'd have come a lot further since Upton Sinclair wrote The Jungle and cracked open the meat packing industry, but no.

[Phranqlin]

Sorry for the repeat post, the network is flaky this morning.

[RockyMtnMac]

I make and eat my own cookie dough. That's right! I live on the edge!

[thomas]

The photo hurts, and brings back to many bad memories.

Wish you were close by Buddy.
I'm REALLY in the mood.

[Bill B.]

Twerp, thanks for the information.

[Sigh]

Hell, they are called COOK-ies, take the hint people.

Yep, nothing gets me drooling like raw eggs.

[Torgo]

I had no idea people really did this. I thought it was a TV sit-com sort of thing.

[sometimesilie]

F8ck.

[Rat]

I love raw Toll House cookie dough, but ever since I heard about the whole salmonella thing, I make my (very rare these days, since scarfing that stuff is terrible for me salmonella notwithstanding) batches with egg substitute instead of real eggs. So unless there's something wrong with the flour, butter, sugar or chocolate chips, I figure I'm probably fine. No problems yet. And the dough (and the cookies that actually make it to the oven) taste fine.

[twerp]

Bill B., you're welcome. I started keeping track of recalls when some of my son's Chinese-manufactured toys were recalled b/c of lead paint.

The CPSC is great. I've been bugging them to ban clamshell product packaging because it's a laceration hazard. So many companies use it though, so I doubt it'll ever fly--here's to hoping though!

[Kee]

SOO, I'm with you. Growing up, I was ALWAYS taught not to eat raw eggs/dough for the same reason. In fact, we ate almost exclusively chicken as our main meat growing up. I NEVER got food poisoning except a couple of times when eating out. It taught me not to trust anyone but immediate family with anything that could give me salmonella.

[LimeGreenLizard]

Waffle House waitress: "What'll you have?"

Me: "Three eggs over medium"

I ain't skeert!

[longdistancerunner]

Soo, there's no danger in eating cookie dough ice cream. The dough in it is made differently than the raw cookie dough you buy to bake. Cookie dough in ice cream is made using pasturized eggs because of course ice cream is not intended to be cooked. It was not part of the recall and safe to eat.

[twerp]

runner's right. One of my college buddy's father was a VIP employee for Blue Belle and I asked him about the cookie dough in the ice cream because of what I've heard most of my life re: raw eggs. He went into this long detailed explaination about the manufacturing process and how it's safe to eat. I trust him.

Really though, with all the strange places the E. Coli outbreaks are occuring, I won't be surprised if it ends up in ice cream sooner or later.

[Caffeinated Katie]

I've never gotten sick from eating raw cookie dough, undercooked eggs, etc., but I also don't buy preservative-laden cookie dough. I bake everything from scratch. If you're really concerned about cookie dough and want to eat it raw, use pasteurized shell eggs. I believe Eggland's Best come pasteurized in the shell these days.

[Sheila]

Actually, there was an ice-cream disaster a few years ago. Schwann (big yellow trucks, home sales of frozen food) ice cream sickened several people. I think someone died, but I can't recall the details.

[Sheila]

Sorry, Schwan, not Schwann. I looked up the "disaster," and it was salmonella from a contractor's egg truck that wasn't properly cleaned. And I didn't see any mention of any death(s), just illnesses.

[Elliot]

I looked on the Eggland's Best website and couldn't find their pasteurized egg. I know that I really like the Davidson's eggs.

[Russ]

Ice cream's not intended to be cooked? That explains a lot!

[Caffeinated Katie]

You can also pasteurize eggs at home.

Whole egg: http://www.christonium.com/culinaryreview/ItemID=11943886808367

Yolks: http://culinaryarts.about.com/od/eggsdairy/ht/pasteurize_eggs.htm

[Caffeinated Katie]

Also, some types of ice cream are cooked, then frozen (frozen custard).

[Soo]

Thanks for the info on the cookie dough ice cream. I've been denying the kids all this time and will surprise them with a box.

[Dang]

I feel for the family. Dang! Makes you wonder what next. Never forget to tell those you love that you love them every night!

[outofsalt]

Um, yikes! My heart goes out to the suffering the family is going through.

I didn't know about pasteurized eggs.