Raw Cookie Dough Causing Salmonella Outbreak in New York

A salmonella outbreak that has sickened people in 11 states including New York has the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention pleading with people to stop eating raw cookie dough!

The CDC has confirmed that they have launched an investigation into a salmonella outbreak that reportedly started between early December 2022 and mid-February 2023. The agency confirmed that since then 12 illnesses have been reported with three of those cases requiring the sick to be hospitalized.

States Affected by Salmonella Outbreak

So far the CDC is saying that the following states have each reported at least one case of a person being infected with the salmonella outbreak strain, those states include New York, California, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio, Oregon, Tennessee, and Virginia. The state of Illinois has reported two cases so far. The CDC also said that the number of reported cases may not seem alarming but it does take about a month to determine if someone who gets sick is part of an outbreak.

"The true number of sick people in this outbreak is likely much higher than the number reported, and the outbreak may not be limited to the states with known illnesses"

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Raw Cookie Dough to Blame?

Public health officials told News 10 that seven of the affected people they were able to speak with, six of them confirmed that they ate raw cookie dough or batter in the week before they got sick. Officials said that flour was the only common ingredient in all of the dough and batter and they are currently trying to determine which brand of flour is responsible for the illnesses.

“Flour doesn’t look like raw food, but most flour is raw. This means it hasn’t been treated to kill germs that cause food poisoning.”

How to Avoid Getting Sick

When flour is cooked or baked those germs including salmonella are normally killed off which is why the CDC says it's important for everyone to avoid eating raw cookie dough. The CDC also recommends that folks use heat-treated flour, wash all surfaces and utensils that touched raw flour, and keep raw flour separate from foods that won’t be cooked.

Salmonella Symptoms

The CDC says that the most common symptoms someone might have been infected with salmonella are diarrhea, fever, and stomach cramps. In most cases, symptoms begin between six hours and six days after you’ve ingested the bacteria. The CDC also said that most people can recover without receiving treatment within four to seven days.