Cookie d’oh: Don’t eat it!

With holiday baking season in full swing, more kids — and their parents — are likely licking the spoons as they mix up their cookie dough.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has issued a fresh warning not to taste raw dough, but not for the reason you may think.

Raw eggs, which may contain the bacteria Salmonella, usually take the blame. But flour is actually the key culprit, according to the CDC.

“Flour is typically a raw agricultural product. This means it hasn’t been treated to kill germs like Escherichia coli (E. coli),” the CDC’s site states. “Harmful germs can contaminate grain while it’s still in the field or at other steps as flour is produced. The bacteria are killed when food made with flour is cooked. This is why you should never taste or eat raw dough or batter — whether made from recalled flour or any other flour.”