The FDA just ruined everyone's day with this news about raw cookie dough

Freeze! Put the spoon down. Back away slowly from the refrigerator. And don't even think about putting that cookie dough in your mouth.

Crushing the appetites of bakers everywhere, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced Thursday that it is unsafe to eat raw cookie dough, even if there are no raw eggs involved. While everyone knows that eggs can give you salmonella, it is actually the raw flour that the FDA is now saying is unsafe — so say goodbye to gnawing on the brownie spoon, too.

Part of the risk comes from the fact that flour is not typically treated for bacteria, and animal waste can get into the grain before it gets processed. While that bacteria is killed in the process of baking, roasting, or frying, it doesn't get killed when you eat the flour raw. In the past several months, dozens of people have been sickened due to E. coli in flour, with 38 people in 20 states falling ill since December. General Mills ended up recalling flour products Gold Medal, Signature Kitchens, and Gold Medal Wondra if they were made between November and early December.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

The flour strain of E. coli can give you abdominal cramps and bloody diarrhea, and for the elderly and those under 5 years old it can even result in kidney failure. But if that's the risk you're willing to take — go ahead, take a bite.