On raw cookie dough and salmonella.

[AlabamaLibrul]

Poll question: On raw cookie dough and salmonella.

I know, they always tell you to not eat the stuff, and all that, but it's been a rare treat for a loooooooooooooooooooong time now, and I never had an issue with it. And I figured, I've had a cold before, it's good enough, why not risk it?

Whoops.

Lots of, uh, "gastrointestinal distress" of all kinds, chills, pains all over. It sucks.

Have you ever encountered a problem from eating a raw/undercooked food that has a risk of foodborne illness?

ETA: In the spirit of certain recent threads, I am strongly considering writing a stern letter to corporate / filing a lawsuit.

[cherokeeprogressive]

1. I have always eaten, and will always eat, raw cookie dough.

If it kills me, I will die happy.

I was a Sailor for over nine years. My belly has been conditioned to accept ANYTHING.

I'll eat anything that tickles my tongue... ALMOST. Cookie dough? TICKLE!

[AlabamaLibrul]

3. I do concede that there will probably come a point in time

that I indulge again. After all, peanut butter and spinach have had the same - and those are supposed to be healthy!

(therefore, I voted option #1 because I don't think it's entirely accurate to say "I have stopped eating those products" because I got sick. Just that being sick right now doesn't feel too good. But I'll be alright soon.)

[cherokeeprogressive]

4. 'Bama, I hope you get better ASAP.

I hate to think that something you, me, and countless others consider a treat might make one or more of us sick.

I'll still be cutting off a slice of the frozen cookie dough in my freezer though when on the off chance that I'm in there to get a steak or whatever it happens to catch my eye.

Be Well.

[AlabamaLibrul]

5. People get sick all the time.

I was just curious how many people had actually experienced something attributable to foodborne illness, especially since the terminology is often thrown around at the sign of an upset stomach....


I am well enough today to be on the computer, went to the store and recycling center. Most of the GI issues have cleared up as I have become famished and a bit dehydrated over the past couple days, being able to drink fluids and eat a bit of fairly substantial food today. Things are turning around, but the past couple days have been no joke.

Whenever you get really sick for a few days on end, it seems to almost become a spiritual experience onto itself - not in any sort of religious sense unless you choose it to be - you learn a lot about yourself, your body, the precise functioning of your lungs, your heartbeat, your thoughts.... while in a period of distress. It's never fun to get sick but it often becomes an introspective period.

[cherokeeprogressive]

10. I'm a pretty big, pretty healthy guy and I remember about fifteen years ago when I had a sinus

infection.

One Sunday I was watching football with my now ex-wife when I felt a twinge between my eyes. Ten minutes later, I was laying on my back on the couch and I wound up missing work for two solid weeks.

That experience, after having had both of my ACLs reconstructed over a period of ten years and shaking both off made me reevaluate how I looked at being sick. I thought I was bullet-proof, had that proven wrong, and illness proof, and boy oh boy that was worse than both knee surgeries put together.

[EFerrari]

2. Yikes. I hope you feel better!

[AlabamaLibrul]

6. Thanks everyone

:grouphug:

[napi21]

7. I've eaen more raw things than you would want to hear about. NEVER had any

problems. Could I in the future? Sure, and I know that. As far as eating things goes, I eat what I want at the time and if I encounter any problems, I'll deal with them.

[Raine]

8. I've eaten raw cookie dough and raw cake

batter, scraped mold off of cheese and eaten it, never gotten sick. I don't think I would do it anymore though. :yoiks:

[kath]

9. How would you possibly know whether some food (cooked or otherwise) made you sick or you caught a

virus?

[Retrograde]

25. A very good point

I was at a conference a few years ago where a number of people came down with "food poisoning" symptoms. The cause was ultimately traced to a very gregarious person who was carrying a very nasty virus: he shook hands with lots of people, touched items in common areas, especially in the hospitality areas.

Food poisoning does occur, but unless you can isolate and culture the microorganism the same symptoms can be from many things.

[Contrary1]

11. 10 out of 18 family members got sick within a few hours of eating Thanksgiving dinner...

The only common food we all ate was the turkey stuffing. Talk about sick...fever, chills, muscle aches, and a couple other nasty side effects I won't go into.

Later that evening, I stepped on a paneling nail, and ran it about 3/4 of an inch into the ball of my foot. So, to top it all off, I got to get a tetanus shot too.

Just your run of the mill Thanksgiving weekend. ;)

Edit: Next time, try making your own cookie dough, just omit the egg. Tastes pretty good.

[TommyO]

18. You can omit the egg, or better yet, use pasteurized eggs - safer if you're going to eat them

raw or barely cooked.

[Hannah Bell]

12. i have an elderly relative who still eats raw hamburger because he did when he was young.

on the farm.

apparently has never got sick.

i wouldn't do it.

[laundry_queen]

27. He probably never get sick because he has built up immunity

My grandparents owned the local (teeny) grocery store when my dad was growing up. My dad got to eat all of the out of date food. Everything he grew up on - meat, milk, butter - was all expired. To add to that, my grandmother often would leave dinner out on the stove all night, and warm it back up the next evening. No refrigeration (why? It's only 1 day!, lol!)

To this day, my dad can eat anything and not get sick. He has the strongest stomach of anyone I know. When we were all barfing with the norovirus, he was fine. When we all felt icky after eating at a certain restaurant, he was fine. When my parents when to the tropics with some relatives, everyone got severe diarrhea, except my dad. My mom keeps all the leftovers that she won't eat because they've been in the fridge too long, for him. I am convinced that when he was growing up, eating contaminated food, his body built up immunity to a lot of the nasties growing in rotting food. Perhaps it is the same with your relative.

I occasionally take chances. My dad makes a great garlic dip that has raw eggs in it. I've eaten it even after it has been sitting out for a few hours. So far, I've been okay, but it's been my theory that there is so much goddamn garlic in it, no bacteria has any chance of survival, lol.

[Very_Boring_Name]

13. My mom and I have probably eaten a truckload of cookie dough between us

and neither of us have gotten sick from it.

[Amerigo Vespucci]

14. I'll bet someone is looking for the "salmonell-icious" option

I had a friend who once finished half a Subways crab salad sandwich that had been sitting on the front seat of her car in the blistering August sun for several hours.

When I bring up "food safety" to most of the people I know, they scoff. I have another friend whose standard response to this kind of thing is that the body is designed to fend off germs.

:-)

[Fokker Trip]

15. Love eating the dough..

I eat it with glee whenever I bake sweets. What kills me is to watch how fearful the parents that I know are about their kids licking off the spoons, etc. That was a great reinforcement for me when I was a little kid baking with my mother.

The parents fear transmits to the kid and it just seems excessive to do that. Remember that all children need to be exposed to low levels of some pathogens to develop an immunity, they are supposed to eat some dirt for instance(I used to add maple leaves and ants to my dirt snack when little, but then I also ate several glass Christmas ornaments.....hmmm.....my oral fixation is showing).

For anyone who does get a bad gut try drinking some colloidal/ionic silver. Its been a near miracle substance for us. And no you won't turn blue. That man drank a lot of it every day for 15 years and he made it the wrong way so that the particles of silver were too big. Great propaganda for the Pharma co's though. Can't have a nearly free and very useful anti-biotic in wide use.

Its also great for treating any wounds on an animal as it works quickly, doesn't smell and if they lick it off it won't hurt them at all.

[Nikia]

16. It's about 1 out of 10,000 eggs that have salmonella

At least according to a corporate study that I heard about from a scientist who was involved.

[trotsky]

17. I think that's similar to what I heard.

A lot of people have a hard time understanding risk assessment. True, you're unlikely to get salmonella poisoning from MOST batches of cookie dough. But that ONE time...

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

19. Other: raw dough = EWWWWW, no matter of what. -nt

[Neurotica]

20. Ate raw dough growing up...not today

Never had a problem eating raw cookie dough or cake batter.

My mom, who is a dietitian, freely allowed it.

However, she says that today more eggs have problems with salmonella. I forget the complete explanation so I won't attempt it here. As a result, I no longer eat raw dough and don't allow my kids to either. They never have a chance to lick the bowl, unless it contains buttercream frosting!

BTW, a cold is nothing like food poisoning, as you have discovered...

You eat raw eggs today at your own risk.

[brendan120678]

21. Well, I love "risky" foods, and actually...

eat something that could be considered "risky" at least once a week.

However, I also have Crohn's, so I don't know if I could have differentiated between salmonella and effects of the Crohn's.

[Brickbat]

22. I developed an egg allergy as an adult and bake my cookies and cakes without eggs. No worries!

[pipi_k]

23. Voted "other" because...

I've had episodes I couldn't link...directly or indirectly...to anything I ate or drank.


Just wanted to point something out, though, for anyone thinking a case of Salmonella is something to mess with.

A friend of Mr Pip's died some 25 years ago from Salmonella after eating undercooked eggs at IHOP.


Sometimes you don't get "only" the nasty symptoms. Sometimes you die.


So, having said that, I don't eat raw cake batter or cookie dough or undercooked eggs/chicken, and I'm real careful about handling raw meat.

[AlabamaLibrul]

28. And I'm always very careful about handling raw meat...

separate cutlery, washing hands probably 2-3 times through prep and cooking.

I'm just odd in my habits.

[Zoeisright]

24. More than 5000 people die from food poisoning in the United States every single year.

You should report the illness to the FDA; the company needs to know about this.

And once you've had salmonella, you NEVER forget it. I got sick from eating an Easter egg that had been out of refrigeration for 6 hours. You'll wish you were dead in the middle of it.

[Retrograde]

26. Don't like raw cookie dough, but

I do eat steak tartare, Caesar salad with a dressing made with raw eggs, homemade mayonnaise, and sashimi. There's one local restaurant that makes steak tartare that I trust - it's one of the owner's specialties, and if I make it at home I mince (not grind) the meat myself.

There are lots of things that can cause "gastrointestinal distress" besides uncooked food. If you're going to file a lawsuit you'll have to prove the dough was contaminated when you bought it, which may not be easy.