Love raw cookie dough? Don’t make it, buy it!
By Brian Zikmund-Fisher
Professor of Health Behavior & Health Equity
Lovers of raw cookie dough, unite! The world has changed to our benefit.
I love eating raw cookie dough. As a character in an old comic strip once put it, “the flavor and texture are exquisite.”
Yet, I’m also a public health faculty member and an expert in health risk communication. I’m very aware of the multiple ways that homemade cookie dough can contain health risks.
Almost 10 years ago, I wrote a piece for The Conversation titled “Why public health worries don’t have to ruin your cookie dough,” discussing why raw dough has health risks and ways to reduce those risks. I also argued that risk is everywhere in our lives, and that it can be reasonable to accept a limited amount of risk to get something that I, and many others, enjoy: the taste of raw cookie dough.
Everything I said then remains true today. But, one thing has changed: most grocery stores now carry cookie dough products that are designed to be eaten raw.
Limiting the risks of homemade cookie dough
Most people know that raw eggs can contain salmonella bacteria, which can make you very sick. Back in 2016, however, I noted that using pasteurized egg products (commonly available) or pasteurized shell eggs (harder to find) to make cookie dough removes this risk without sacrificing the taste or texture of the dough.
The risk that most people forget about comes with raw flour. Raw, untreated flour can become contaminated with things like E. coli in the fields where it is grown.
I say now (as I did then): If you happen to have contaminated flour that has been recalled, throw it out, period. Back in 2016, there was a nationwide recall of certain brands of flour because of contamination, and I made absolutely sure that I didn’t have any.
Flour that has not been recalled is not risk-free. There could be contamination that hasn’t yet been identified. But, at the same time, flour recalls are quite unusual.
In 2016, I noted that I made sure to minimize risk whenever I made homemade cookie dough for eating raw by using pasteurized egg products and flour that I knew was not recalled.
That advice is as true today as it was then. But my behavior has changed.
Store-bought cookie dough as the safer option
The main thing that has changed from 2016 to now is that most grocery stores in the US now carry multiple types of cookie dough products that are advertised as “ready to eat.”
Ready-to-eat dough products use pasteurized egg products and what is called heat-treated flour: flour that has been heated to kill any bacteria but not enough to cook it. It is more expensive to make than regular flour, which is why you probably won’t find heat-treated flour on your grocery shelves.
Making your own choice
I pretty much don’t eat homemade cookie dough anymore. The chance that my homemade dough recipe would make me sick is very low. But, it’s too easy to take the safer route. If I have a craving for the taste of raw dough, I just go buy it.
That said, I still believe what I said in 2016: Our goal in public health is not to minimize all risk but to maximize life. People can rationally choose to put themselves at (hopefully limited amounts of) risk in pursuit of things they love.
For me, however, knowing that I can get my cookie dough fix without these risks at the grocery store is good enough.
About the author
Brian Zikmund-Fisher is a professor in the Department of Health Behavior & Health Equity whose work centers on a key question: How can we help people understand the information they need to make better health decisions? His research spans how patients and clinicians interpret health data, why people consistently prefer more or less medical care, and how storytelling shapes health communication.
