Food poisoning warning over raw cookie dough

● US experts issue guidance after E.coli outbreak linked to flour

Enjoying a sneaky lick of the spoon when baking a cake could become a thing of the past after new food standards guidelines have warned that eating uncooked flour could cause severe food poisoning.

The American Food and Drug Administration warned people against eating raw cake batter or cookie dough following an investigation into an E.coli outbreak in the US in 2016 where flour was found to be the cause. Dozens of people are believed to have fallen ill after eating or handling raw dough containing the flour.

American experts also said that children in nurseries should not use home-made modelling clay created from flour, while bakers should thoroughly clean surfaces after rolling out pastry or cookie dough or using flour and never eat raw batter.

Previously warnings have related to fears over the presence of salmonella in eggs, a bug which has been stamped out in most commercially produced eggs following the introduction of a hen vaccination programme in the 1990s.

Symptoms associated with E.coli can include stomach cramps, diarrhoea, vomiting, fever and in extreme cases it can prove fatal.

Food Standards Scotland yesterday said that ingredients which are meant to be cooked should be heated thoroughly before eating.

A spokesman said: “Food Standards Scotland is not aware of any cases of food poisoning resulting from the use of flour in Scotland. However,

0 Contanimated flour was linked to the US E.coli outbreak our advice is that good hygiene practices should take place within the home, including always washing your hands before and after handling food in the kitchen and making sure your food is cooked properly.”

Jenny Scott, a senior adviser in the US Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, said: “Flour, regardless of the brand, can contain bacteria that cause disease.

“In 2016, the US Food and Drug Administration, along with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and state and local officials, inves- tigated an outbreak of infections that illustrated the dangers of eating raw dough.”

The FDA’S new guidance said that flour is derived from a grain that comes directly from the field and typically is not treated to kill bacteria.

If bacteria from animal waste has contaminated the grain in the field, it is then harvested and milled into the flour, which is not processed in any way which could kill the bacteria.