Maybe someone can answer me: how did cow-shit based e. coli get into Nestle's cookie dough?

[BurtWorm]

This story passed me by last summer, maybe because I'm not a big fan of raw cookie dough, or even cookies baked from pre-packaged raw cookie dough. (This is not a current story, as far as I know. If raw cookie dough is your thing, I think you're safe--for now):

http://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/ucm167908.htm

FDA NEWS RELEASE

For Immediate Release: June 19, 2009

Media Inquiries: Michael Herndon, 301-796-4673, [e-mail]
Consumer Inquiries: 888-INFO-FDA
FDA Warns Consumers Not to Eat Nestle Toll House Prepackaged, Refrigerated Cookie Dough
Nestle Voluntarily Recalls all Varieties of Prepackaged, Refrigerated Toll House Cookie Dough

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are warning consumers not to eat any varieties of prepackaged Nestle Toll House refrigerated cookie dough due to the risk of contamination with E. coli O157:H7 (a bacterium that causes food borne illness).

The FDA advises that if consumers have any prepackaged, refrigerated Nestle Toll House cookie dough products in their home that they throw them away. Cooking the dough is not recommended because consumers might get the bacteria on their hands and on other cooking surfaces.

Retailers, restaurateurs, and personnel at other food-service operations should not sell or serve any Nestle Toll House prepackaged, refrigerated cookie dough products subject to the recall.

Nestle USA, which manufactures and markets the Toll House cookie dough, is fully cooperating with the ongoing investigation by the FDA and CDC. The warning is based on an ongoing epidemiological study conducted by the CDC and several state and local health departments. Since March 2009 there have been 66 reports of illness across 28 states. Twenty-five persons were hospitalized; 7 with a severe complication called Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome (HUS). No one has died.

E. coli O157:H7 causes abdominal cramping, vomiting and a diarrheal illness, often with bloody stools. Most healthy adults can recover completely within a week. Young children and the elderly are at highest risk for developing HUS, which can lead to serious kidney damage and even death.

Individuals who have recently eaten prepackaged, refrigerated Toll House cookie dough and have experienced any of these symptoms should contact their doctor or health care provider immediately. Any such illnesses should be reported to state or local health authorities.

The FDA reminds consumers they should not eat raw food products that are intended for cooking or baking before consumption. Consumers should use safe food-handling practices when preparing such products, including following package directions for cooking at proper temperatures; washing hands, surfaces, and utensils after contact with these types of products; avoiding cross contamination; and refrigerating products properly.

For more information on safe food handling practices, go to http://www.fda.gov/Food/ResourcesForYou/Consumers/ucm109899.htm. For answers to consumer questions about this recall and warning, go to: http://www.fda.gov/Food/ResourcesForYou/Consumers/ucm168346.htm.

Consumers who have additional questions about these products should contact Nestle consumer services at 1-800-559-5025 and/or visit their Web site at www.verybestbaking.com.

For a complete listing of the recalled products go to:
http://www.nestleusa.com/PubNews/PressReleaseLibraryDetails.aspx?id=133CC131-A79F-4E84-9C43-C9F99FE5BC99.

###################################################



Now, the reason I dug this story up is because of a story in today's NY Times about a vaccine against this strain of e. coli that is being tested now on cows headed for next summer's food supply. I was reading The Omnivore's Dilemma a couple of weeks ago and so my antennae are up for stories about the dysfunction of the industrial American food supply. I was thinking how ironic it is for the industry to be developing a vaccine (considering where the word vaccine comes from), essentially to hide the fact that cow shit winds up in our hamburgers.

I was trying to remember what Pollan suggested was behind the development of this strain. I believe it has something to do with the fact that our hamburger cows are fed corn, which fattens them up but also sickens them, because cows are ruminants whose insides are meant to digest grass, not maize. Corn-bred cattle's feed is, therefore, "fortified" with anti-biotics, and, if I recall correctly, this strain of e. coli (O157:H7, to be exact) has evolved because it is resistant to the anti-biotics. (Please correct me if I'm wrong, someone.)

So I Googled O157:H7 to see if I was remembering correctly and--voila!--I was led to this story that slipped past me last June. Other links at the FDA and centers for disease control lead to former outbreaks of O157:H7-caused illness, mostly from beef but also from spinach in 2006. Now I can understand how spinach and other vegetables from Big Agrifarms wind up peppered with cow-shit. But it's not clear to me how cookie dough does. Does anyone else know or have any theories?

In any csse, watch what you eat!

[Kittycat]

1. Nothing is better than cookies from scratch...

and my husband made some last night. Don't be jealous.

[walldude]

2. Lard maybe? Do they use lard in the cookie dough?

Could have passed through from that.

[BurtWorm]

8. I was wondering if eggs might have something to do with it ,

What's strange is there's nothing on the FDA or CDC site to clear up the mystery, which made me think it's still a mystery.

PS: Lard is pig, though, isn't it? And eggs are usally associated with salmonella.

[Auggie]

3. Here are some that come to mind:

Tainted/ unwashed hands

Disgruntled employee

Contaminated because it's produced by co-packer that makes other products besides cookie dough

[dana_b]

18. that is the best theory

lack of hygiene

[DJ13]

4. Nothin says lovin like E-Coli from the oven!

Yum!

[ima_sinnic]

15. lol!

[Donnachaidh]

22. DUZY! n/t

[slackmaster]

5. Probably some rats ate the cow shit and then crapped in the cookie dough

:hi:

[BurtWorm]

13. I like it.

Nice image!

:toast:

[Jamastiene]

6. Here is a scenario that might have happened:

The store rearranged the refrigerated areas and put the cookie dough where the meats used to be. Then, a careless stock person punctured the cookie dough package and it got the E. Coli in it. :shrug:

Or, Nestle had their cookie dough stuffed into the little tubes at a sausage making factory and the factory didn't clean the machines.

Or, they used cows to roll out the dough while they were mixing it. Well, maybe not this one.

[BurtWorm]

10. It was apparently from a processing plant, which rules out the store stock theory.

;-)

The sausage-making theory has potential...

[FSogol]

7. Employees not washing hands after using toilet? Unclean food prep areas?

Lack of clean knives, equipment, etc?

[Sinti]

9. You probably don't want to know

and you don't want to eat factory-made cookies. It could have been in the wheat before it was ground into flour. They may have their own flour mill at the plant. That's my most polite guess as to how actual cow dung got into your cookies - my best guess is disgruntled employee.

[BurtWorm]

11. You'd think Nestle would want to make it clear it was a 'nut' who did it

not something inherently unsanitary about their prep area.

[Sinti]

17. A mechanized-system failure can be cured

If you let it out that by paying people low wages and having their job be tenuous... they might do bad things that will definitely cut down on people's cookie buying more. With the system problem they could say it's factory X, and we're all over it, rather than "it could be anywhere."

[ecstatic]

12. I'm never eating cookie dough again! A good thing,

I suppose--in this never ending battle of the bulge.

[endless october]

14. offer an irradiated option.

i would buy it.

[Shagbark Hickory]

19. Me too. It's time for irradiating food

http://www.walletpop.com/consumer-reports/article/how-safe-is-that-chicken/793213

[surrealAmerican]

16. Is there butter in this cookie dough?

If so, it may have come from unsanitary conditions at the dairy farm.

... or from the eggs
... or even the wheat
... or dirty equipment at any part of the manufacturing process.

These things really need a full investigation to find the source of contamination.

[MilesColtrane]

20. From eggs?

http://www.exoticpetvet.net/avian/eggs.html

"E. coli is a common bacteria normally found in the GI tract of mammals, and some birds, as well. It can enter the egg from an infected reproductive tract of a hen. E. coli can also penetrate through the eggshell if the egg is contaminated with fecal material. E. coli commonly causes yolk sac infection, causing the yolk sac contents to appear watery and yellow-green or yellow-brown. Dirty nests and cages can serve as sources of contamination to eggs. The use of water bottles can reduce the amount of E. coli that builds up in the GI tract of birds. In my experience, aviaries that use a watering system and not water bowls will have fewer problems with sub-clinical bacterial infections in their breeder birds and their offspring."

[librechik]

23. ding ding ding!

The Winnah!

[BrklynLiberal]

27. Considering they are probably not that particular about the eggs they use, I would say this was the

best possibility.

Their eggs are no doubt from a factory farm, at which just about every negative described above is present.

[petersjo02]

21. Most likely eggs.

Every bowel, including your own, carries e-coli.

[librechik]

24. another reason Ieat pasteurized fat free de-cholesteroled "eggs"

instead of the delicious by dangerous real thing nowadays

[BurtWorm]

25. It's the strain of e. coli that counts.

Is O157:H7 also found in chickens? I don't know. I'm going to Google it.

PS: Yes it is:

http://www.inspection.gc.ca/english/fssa/concen/cause/ecolie.shtml

What is E. coli O157:H7?

Escherichia coli O157:H7 (called E. coli in this pamphlet) bacteria are found naturally in the intestines of cattle, poultry and other animals. If people become infected with these bacteria, the infection can result in serious illness. Several other types of E. coli can also infect people and cause illness.

[Romulox]

26. Call me crazy, but virtually everything Nestle makes is low quality

I wouldn't buy Nestle pre-made cookie dough on a bet.

[aikoaiko]

28. nefarious keebler elves.

[era veteran]

29. Remember the jingle N-E-S-T-L-E-S

With e. coli you get a shitty mess, or something like that. Or it could have been those dogs http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-H6tuqbtQDE

[JoeyT]

30. A company that uses child slaves has poor hygeine policies?

The milk used to make the chocolate (If it's chocolate chip) or the dough could have easily been contaminated. Someone that worked at the factory/packing plant might have been getting over an infection with that strain and not washed their hands after going to the bathroom. An employee might have been pissed off and brought in a bag of cow shit and hurled it into the mixer. (Never underestimate disgruntled employees.) It could have just bounced from person to person to the point that cow manure wasn't even involved.

Edited to add: You're pretty much correct about the antibiotic resistance in animals from huge industrial farms. It's actually much worse than you think. Virtually every antibiotic that exists for use on humans has a couple of very similar ones (or even the exact same one) being fed in small doses to chickens, cows, pigs, etc. There's evidence that this is actually the major cause of most antibiotic resistance.

[juno jones]

31. Cross-contamination at the factory, most likely.

Poorly executed cleaning routines.

The usual.