Years ago the 'experts' warned of eating apples. Next week the 'experts' will warn of another 'danger food'

Yes there's a theoretical risk.

So the hell what.

And New Jersey can go to hell for dictating how eggs are cooked as well.

I love eating raw cookie dough, and I have a justification for it. Only 14 out of 100,000 Americans become infected with salmonella poisoning per year. So in a given year, I have a .014% chance of getting it. Compare that to the deliciousness of raw cookie dough, and my enjoyment outweighs the risk.

sweetmelissa31: I love eating raw cookie dough, and I have a justification for it. Only 14 out of 100,000 Americans become infected with salmonella poisoning per year. So in a given year, I have a .014% chance of getting it. Compare that to the deliciousness of raw cookie dough, and my enjoyment outweighs the risk.

Word to your mother.

Cookie dough is awesome, and I enjoy it myself. But to preempt the "I ate it as a kid, so it must be safe today" arguments, I should point out that the rate of salmonella in raw eggs today is several orders of magnitude higher than it was even just a couple of decades ago. So it is riskier than when you were young.

sweetmelissa31: I love eating raw cookie dough, and I have a justification for it. Only 14 out of 100,000 Americans become infected with salmonella poisoning per year. So in a given year, I have a .014% chance of getting it. Compare that to the deliciousness of raw cookie dough, and my enjoyment outweighs the risk.

Yeah, I figure I'll get salmonella some day with my tendency to eat it, but that's the price you pay. It did make me laugh when Nestle had to recall some of their cookie dough one time, because it did have salmonella in it. Their release said something like only half of those tubes are baked, the rest eaten raw, hence the need for recall.

SNGX1275: VictoryCabal: Cookie dough is awesome, and I enjoy it myself. But to preempt the "I ate it as a kid, so it must be safe today" arguments, I should point out that the rate of salmonella in raw eggs today is several orders of magnitude higher than it was even just a couple of decades ago. So it is riskier than when you were young.

^ Citation Needed

Here's an article from Australia showing an increase: Link

SNGX1275: ^ Citation Needed

It was a report on NPR I heard last year. It was a measured increase in the rate of salmonella found in raw eggs (not salmonella infection rates). I've tried to find it, but have failed due to being buried in stories about increased infections.

SNGX1275: Salmonella enterica Serotype Enteritidis and Eggs: A National Epidemic in the United States Clin Infect Dis. (2006) 43 (4): 512-517.
"Beginning in the 1970s, the incidence of Salmonella enterica serotype Enteritidis (SE) infection and the number of related outbreaks in the United States has increased dramatically....Since 1996, the incidence of SE infection in humans has decreased greatly.."

I also found this:
[graphics8.nytimes.com image 640x477]

So its higher than in the early 70s, but lower than everything after, or at least not "orders of magnitude". I'd also postulate that perhaps in the early 70s and before there were simply fewer reported incidences because people didn't go to the hospital for every illness.

I wonder if it has anything to do with factory farming.

SNGX1275: So its higher than in the early 70s, but lower than everything after, or at least not "orders of magnitude". I'd also postulate that perhaps in the early 70s and before there were simply fewer reported incidences because people didn't go to the hospital for every illness.

Your chart shows rates of human infection. I'm not surprised that those have gone down, especially with our increased emphasis on safe food handling practices. The report I heard was discussing the rate at which salmonella was found in samples of raw eggs, which is a completely different matter. I can't remember the exact numbers, but the rate had increased from something like 1 in 100,000 to 1 in 5,000 in standard eggs purchased at the grocery store. The hypothesis was that the higher density farming methods increased the chicken-to-chicken transmission rate.

Again, I can't find the exact story, so I'm just working from memory here.

I had Salmonella a couple of years ago, but it was from eating jalepeños. I'm glad I was a smidgen overweight, because after losing 25 lbs. in a most unpleasant manner, I was too thin and weak. I can see how it could kill the old/young/infirm.

I still eat cookie dough, and order steaks medium rare.

SNGX1275: Perhaps your memory is right, but if it was that much higher then why did human infections go down?

Your chart shows rates of infection by salmonella enteriditis, but doesn't specify if that's total infections, or just infections from egg sources. This strain of salmonella can come not just from eggs, but from chicken meat and even non-poultry sources.

This is speculation on my part, but I would guess that as farming methods changed (increased higher-density "corporate" farming, more feed cross-contamination, etc), rates of salmonella on many products increased, which led to an increase in infection rates in people. (The upswing part of your chart)

More recently, we've seen a much higher emphasis on safe food handling practices both commercially and in outreach to people cooking at home. We've seen increased emphasis on proper storage temperature, cooking temperature, changing out cutting boards between different ingredients, more frequent hand washing, etc. All of these changes were done with the intent of decreasing the rate of all food-born illness. Naturally, this has led to a decrease of the infection rate of salmonella. (The downswing part of your chart)

Finally, we've changed culturally. Outside of cookie dough, when's the last time you ate raw eggs? I can't think of the last time I did it in non-dough form. We used to eat raw eggs a lot more frequently: in egg-nogs, in protein drinks for people working out, in drinks prepared at soda fountains, etc. I believe that eating raw eggs is just something we do a lot less of.

But this is just speculation on my part.

But it's

i can't eat cookie dough as i'm allergic to raw eggs. :(
i miss that shiat, it was sooo delicious.

When I was a pothead, my favourite thing to quell the munchies was raw cookie dough. Now, I'm an alcoholic, and my favourite thing to quell the munchies is beer.

/beer, is there anything it can't do?

So in the interviews it came out that this dough was all commercially made and from one brand.

YAY to our corporate industrial food poisoners.

So? Don't eat the entire tube of cookie dough and you won't feel sick.

My nasty ass kept a tube of raw cookie dough under my bed when I was 9 or 10 to snack on before I went to sleep. Obviously my mom freaked when she found it.

Salmonella is in the reproductive tract of some chickens, that's how it ends up in the egg. It's pretty hard to avoid if you eat raw eggs, but salmonella is typically a tummy ache and the runs for a healthy adult.

E coli more severe and lives in the digestive tract of animals, and there's absolutely no reason it should be in cookie dough. This article is about a specific outbreak of e coli that someone managed to get in the cookie dough. It's not really about salmonella.

If you're worried, make your own cookie dough.

sweetmelissa31: I love eating raw cookie dough, and I have a justification for it. Only 14 out of 100,000 Americans become infected with salmonella poisoning per year. So in a given year, I have a .014% chance of getting it. Compare that to the deliciousness of raw cookie dough, and my enjoyment outweighs the risk.

From someone who's had salmonella poisoning from undercover eggs, let me tell you that it is not worth the risk. It was probably the sickest I've ever been in my life. Also your statistics assume that everyone in the country is eating raw or undercover eggs.

Undercooked. Fark my phone.