Raw Eggs, Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough...And Freezing

Question

I have often heard the warning that one should not eat raw chocolate chip cookie dough which contains raw eggs, due to the risk (however slight) of salmonella. (I should also say I have not always headed that warning...)

Recently I had made a batch of dough and didn't bake off all of it, but rather froze some of the dough for later use. When I pulled it of the freezer (and, of course, ate some of the yummy dough) I occurred to me that such freezing might kill any potential salmonella. I was able to find a couple of reference that suggest this may be the case, but nothing I would call 'authoritative'.

Will freezing chocolate chip cookie dough (made with raw eggs) reduce or eliminate the risk of salmonella from eating the raw, mixed, frozen, then thawed eggs?

Answer 1

As quoted in the New York Times:

Freezing does not kill the bacteria in food, as can be seen from the recent outbreak of salmonella poisoning involving an ice cream product, said Dr. Robert Gravani, professor of food science at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., and a food safety expert.