Don’t Eat Raw Cookie Dough!

Jaxy:

I'm curious what you mean by, "Even though pasteurized eggs are heated, they are considered uncooked." I was under the impression that a pasteurized egg was heated to the proper temperature of killing all of the bacteria inside eggs. Do you have a source to suggest this is not the case? Thanks.

Cooking an egg denatures the proteins, just as cooking meat does the same. A denatured protein is usually (always?) different in texture and look than the original. Somehow the magicians who pasteurize eggs and milk do so without changing the protein structure enough for us to notice.

And in an effort to stay on topic, I will find it impossibly difficult to refrain from eating raw cookie dough. I have purchased entire packages of the cookie dough at the store even when I didn't have an oven!

Drew

http://www.wisegeek.com/is-it-dangerous-to-eat-raw-cookie-dough.htm

"Pre-made raw cookie dough that one can buy at the store usually lacks uncooked eggs. In many cases, pre-made raw cookie dough might contain pasteurized eggs. Pasteurized eggs are, in effect, uncooked. However, they have usually been heated or "flash cooked" to a temperature that is sufficient to kill any bacteria that can be dangerous to consumers. Uncooked egg is included in cookie dough as an emulsifier that is important in the baking process. The raw cookie dough found in ice cream, cake, or candy is not meant to be baked. For this reason it usually does not contain any egg."

All of my resources for this information is at the bottom of the blog entry under "Resources:"

First of all I do not stoop to the level of using pre-made cookie dough - of course I make my cookies from scratch! And then I eat a large quantity of the dough. My grandmother always forbade it when I was younger but I would sneak a little here and there.

The only time I had the pre-made dough was in college. We kept a big tub of it in the barn's freezer to snack on at horse shows. There wasn't too much to eat and it was easy...

I would not use pasteurized eggs. I try to stick to natural ingredients if possible.

Cookie Monster is clearly devastated by this news.

As for me, I'll take my chances...consider that some people start their day by drinking an egg... Besides, testing the dough is part of a proper cookie baking process.

"The only way to kill salmonella is to heat it for ten minutes at 75 degrees Celsius."

Not so. Salmonella in food can also be killed by subjecting it to ultra high pressure (>85,000 psi) for a few minutes.

http://www.foodprocessing.com/industrynews/2008/061.html

Thanks for pointing that out. That sentence was actually aimed toward what consumers can do to kill salmonella if they think their food may be contaminated or want to take preventative measures. I don't think that consumers have access to a pressure chamber of over 85,000 psi to kill the salmonella that may be on their food.

Interesting information though!

Strange how the health conscious sterilized clean freaks are typically the first ones to get sick from anything.

Yet us raw cookie dough eating, egg eating, catch it and eat it while stomping around the barn yard bare foot people rarely ever get sick from that nasty un prepared bacteria laden sort of stuff we consume every day!

Perhaps our immune systems see those nasty bacteria and viruses so often they just already know how to deal with them from having done it so many times before. So to us those supposedly harmfully levels of Ecoli and similar bacteria are no problem at all.

Dead bird any one?

Good point. How odd that the biggest sterilized clean freak of all time (Howard Hughes) died from liver failure.

Caption this for Friday?

Even after being clean and sober for many years, old habits die hard.

Somethings are just worth the risk...I think I'll bake cookies tonight.

Gosh I have to give up my Cookie Dough ice cream

Call me a rebel then.

But I am buying a few packages of assorted cookie dough and going to enjoy every uncooked bite this weekend!

I may even leave it out on the counter over night with the packaging open too!

Seriously if this is what living on the edge has been reduced down too.... WTF?

Jaxie, you are going to cause serious matrimonial problems with posts like this! For thirty years I've been stealing my share of the chock chip cookie dough to the perpetual frustration of my Wife. The kids know you steal cookie dough, my dog waits for her share of the spoils. If I stop now, how on earth will I ever be able to explain that. Bill Clinton has got more hope of being called an Honest , Faithful husband.

I don't use raw eggs. I love eating cookie dough and I wanted my 6 year old grandson to experience the joy of eating raw dough as wells, so I use Pasteurized Egg Whites. This allows both of us to enjoy the best part of the cookie, the dough.