Not only do raw eggs in cookie dough and cake batter potentially carry salmonella, but new FDA warning in reaction to a recent food recall advises that raw flour carries parasites. Backing products manufactured by General Mills were recalled due to a possible E. Coli contamination.
Diarrhea and cramps for several days are minor symptoms, but kidney failure is worst case scenario. To prevent an outbreak, the company ordered back 10 million pounds of flour over the last few months. Prevalent flour contamination is a new hazard according to food safety experts.
No surprise, since the baking ingredient is procured from uncooked grains harvested in an open field, of which are vulnerable to bacterial contaminations.
“We were looking to bring awareness to the consumers who might not be aware that … grain is a raw agricultural product,” said Les Smoot, FDA Senior Food Safety Advisor. Flour, however, isn’t traditionally treated to kill bacteria like E. coli, Smoot said. Consumers are urged to take their own precautions; it’s recommended that flour is boiled, baked, roasted, microwaved, or fried during the preparation of foods.
Although food producers need to be vigilant in watching E. coli outbreaks in flour, they have prior experience in dealing with the parasite in raw fruits and vegetables.
“There is much more data currently available on the risk of contamination in fresh produce, as well as information on how to prevent contamination in fresh produce,” said Londa Nwadike, an assistant professor of food safety and an extension food safety specialist at the University of Missouri and Kansas State University. “There are currently more education and outreach efforts all along the produce chain … from farmers to transporters to processors, retailers, consumers,” she insisted.
Because of the recent threat, Nwadike said, “There will likely be many more research, education and outreach efforts to reduce the risk of contamination in flour in the future after this outbreak,” and, “In the past, we didn’t think as much about flour being a raw product that carried a risk of contamination, but it is being more recognized now, which is why FDA is trying to provide consumers with information to reduce their risk of contamination from raw flour.”
Smoot explained that scientists still haven’t found why or how the flour gets contaminated. “We are presuming one of the probable sources could be animal activity in the field where these types of products are harvested and treated,” he said.
Speculations of animal activity include feces droppings in the fields or wind directing contaminants from pastures in the mountains said Jeff Nelken another food safety expert. In addition to animal activity, food corruption could result from “the processing facilities, it could be the water supply, it could be the workers,” Nelken said.
Although you’re still potentially exposed to salmonella when eating cookie dough or cake batter, risk of contracting E. coli in flour is reduced by heat treating it. In fact, Nestlé has been heat-treating the flour it uses since 2009 when the FDA associated raw cookie dough to a former E. coli outbreak.
Presently, the FDA advocates to not eat raw cookie dough.
Source: Huffington Post
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