I enjoy eating raw cookie dough. As long as the dough doesn't have egg in it, is it safe to eat?
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2Even with egg, if the dough is fresh.– RobertOct 3, 2015 at 3:22
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It depends on what you have in it. If all you have is flour, sugar, butter, baking powder, salt, and chocolate chips, than there is obviously no problem.– That One ActorOct 6, 2015 at 21:11
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3... is weight gain a risk?– Daniel GriscomNov 3, 2015 at 23:49
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3 Answers
According the the current advice from the FDA, you should not eat raw dough, even if does not contain eggs. Apparently raw flour may contain E. coli.
People often understand the dangers of eating raw dough due to the presence of raw eggs and the associated risk with Salmonella. However, consumers should be aware that there are additional risks associated with the consumption of raw dough, such as particularly harmful strains of E. coli in a product like flour.
“Flour is derived from a grain that comes directly from the field and typically is not treated to kill bacteria,” says Leslie Smoot, Ph.D., a senior advisor in FDA’s Office of Food Safety and a specialist in the microbiological safety of processed foods. So if an animal heeds the call of nature in the field, bacteria from the animal waste could contaminate the grain, which is then harvested and milled into flour.
Common “kill steps” applied during food preparation and/or processing (so-called because they kill bacteria that cause infections) include boiling, baking, roasting, microwaving, and frying. But with raw dough, no kill step has been used.
https://www.fda.gov/ForConsumers/ConsumerUpdates/ucm508450.htm
If you're worried about getting sick, the only risky ingredient is raw eggs.
I personally detest raw cookie dough (it's a texture thing), but our family routinely uses powdered eggs in our cookie dough so that my spouse and kids can eat the raw dough without any worry (they seem to prefer the dough to the baked cookies). The cookies turn out exactly the same, we just end up losing about half the dough in the process to those crazy people who prefer eating the dough...
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2The crazy people are the ones that put in baking powder and cook the stuff. I stopped doing that long ago, as I always preferred them underdone if they were baked at all, and as dough by preference, so when I moved out of my parents' house, the baking powder stopped going into the dough, and it just stays in the fridge until gone. ;^) Pasteurized eggs in a carton (evidently also now in shell) would be another "safe" approach.– EcnerwalNov 4, 2015 at 0:29
No, if there is no eggs, you can eat it, as long as it has NO EGGS whatsoever. You're safe to eat as much as you want, just make sure it does NOT HAVE EGGS. (and don't eat TO much, you might get a little sick :P)
