Health Law

Potentially E. coli-contaminated cookie dough still being sold

By Marler Clark

I am now in possession of potentially E. coli-contaminated Nestle Toll House cookie dough.  In an attempt to learn more about the warning labels Nestle prints on its cookie dough packaging, I set out for the supermarket closest to my house.  That store happens to be a Fred Meyer.  When I arrived, I was surprised by a few things:

• The refrigerated Cookie Dough section is so big, it has a sign - kind of like what you'd see over the egg, ice cream, or frozen pizza section.  I was stunned, mostly because I've never purchased refrigerated cookie dough before and I would never have guessed that there would be a big enough market for refrigerated cookie dough that it would command its own section.  It is a true tribute to Nestle and other companies' marketing departments that this section is necessary.
• Fred Meyer had not posted any recall notices in the refrigerated cookie section.
• A mother and daughter were trying to decide which refrigerated cookies to buy, and were leaning toward buying Kroger brand cookies, but were debating on whether to splurge and buy Nestle cookies.  I told them about the Nestle refrigerated cookie dough recall that was announced this morning, and they decided not to buy any cookie dough at all.  I can't say I would have made a different choice.

After purchasing recalled product, I notified a woman at the service desk that the cookie dough I had just purchased was recalled for potential E. coli contamination.  She seemed surprised, but told me she'd look up the Nestle cookie dough recall information on the FDA Website and would make sure the product was dealt with appropriately.

Since arriving home with the potentially E. coli-contaminated cookie dough, I have washed my hands at least 20 times and have sanitized my counters 4-5 times.  The Nestle cookie dough is currently in my freezer and I'm terrified.  I'm treating cookie dough, of all things, like I treat ground beef.  I assume that all ground beef is contaminated with E. coli and that all eggs are contaminated with Salmonella.  But cookie dough contains pasteurized egg products and should not be hazardous to our health - or at least that's what I thought until yesterday.

My roommates are out of town and know about the recall, but in case they forget by the time they get home on Sunday and I haven't yet thrown the cookie dough away, I've properly labeled it and am keeping it in the freezer. 

Full post as published by Food Poison Blog on June 19, 2009 (boomark / email).