Baking with your family is a wonderful way to commemorate memorable occasions. You could be tempted to taste a bite of cookies, brownies, cakes, or bread before it’s fully baked.
However, eating or tasting raw (unbaked) dough or batter can make you sick. Handling or eating raw dough used for crafts or play clay can also make children unwell. When preparing and handling raw dough, keep these safety tips in mind to keep you and your loved ones safe.
Germs that make you sick can be found in raw dough.
Although flour does not appear to be a raw food, it is. That it hasn’t been treated to kill bacteria that cause food poisoning, such as E. coli (E. coli).
These dangerous microorganisms can contaminate grain in the field or flour in the mill. Steps like grinding grain and bleaching flour don’t eradicate hazardous microorganisms, which can end up in store-bought flour or baking mixes.
If you eat unbaked dough or batter made with germ-infested flour, you may become ill. Only when flour-based foods are baked or cooked do germs die.
In 2016, 2019, and 2021, the CDC looked into E. coli outbreaks linked to raw flour or cake mix. Recalls were issued as a result of some of these investigations. Flour and flour-based baking mixes have a long shelf life and do not go bad rapidly.
Check your cupboard to see whether you have any flour or baking mixes that have been recalled in the last few years (search the FDA’s recall listexternal icon). Throw away any recalled flour or baking mixes you have on hand.
Another ingredient in dough and batter that might make you or your family sick is raw eggs. Salmonella, a bacteria that causes food poisoning, can be found in raw or lightly cooked eggs. Learn how to properly handle and prepare eggs.
You can buy edible cookie dough and brownie mix in stores from some vendors. Heat-treated flour and pasteurized eggs (or no eggs) are used to make these items. Make sure the dough can be consumed without baking or cooking by reading the label carefully.
Handle flour and other raw ingredients with caution.
When baking and cooking with flour and other raw ingredients, follow these guidelines to avoid food poisoning.
- Do not taste or eat any raw dough or batter. This includes dough or batter for cookies, brownies, cakes, pie crusts, tortillas, pizza, biscuits, pancakes, or crafts made with raw flour, such as homemade play dough or holiday ornaments.
- Do not let children play with or eat raw dough, including dough for crafts.
- Bake raw dough, such as cookie dough, and batter, such as cake mix, before eating.
- Follow the recipe or package directions for cooking or baking. Use the temperature and cooking time given in the recipe or directions.
- Do not make milkshakes with products that contain raw flour, such as cake mix.
- Do not use raw homemade cookie dough in ice cream.
- Cookie dough ice cream sold in stores contains dough that has been treated to kill harmful germs.
- Keep raw foods, such as flour and eggs, separate from ready-to-eat foods. Because flour is a powder, it can spread easily.
- Follow label directions to refrigerate products containing raw dough or eggs until they are baked or cooked (for example, store-bought cookie dough).
- Clean up thoroughly after handling flour, eggs, or raw dough.
- Wash your hands with soap and water after handling flour, raw eggs, or any surfaces they have touched.
- Wash bowls, utensils, countertops, and other surfaces with warm, soapy water.
Recognize the Signs and Symptoms of Food Poisoning
Depending on the germ you consumed, food poisoning symptoms might range from minor to severe.
E. coli infection symptoms include severe stomach cramps, diarrhea (frequently bloody), and vomiting. People normally become ill three to four days after ingesting the virus and recover in a week. Some people, however, develop a dangerous condition known as hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), which can lead to kidney failure, stroke, and even death.
Diarrhea, fever, and stomach cramps are all symptoms of Salmonella infection. Symptoms appear 6 hours to 6 days after the germ is swallowed and last 4 to 7 days.
Infection and severe sickness are more likely in certain categories of people. Children under the age of five, adults 65 and older, and persons with health problems or who take medicines that reduce the body’s ability to resist infections and sickness are among these categories.