Second only to tasting your beautiful creation, the best bit of baking cookies is eating the raw mixture. Yes, mum, we know we probably shouldn't because we'll get sick yadda yadda yadda, but it tastes so GOOD.
The thing is, we should probably actually listen to our mothers and stop the habit asap. Because although we seem to think we're invincible, I hate to break it to you but you're probably not.
Keleigh Nealon looked into the cookie dough issue for Buzz60, and delivered us the disappointing news that it really could make us sick. So BACK OFF THE BOWL, people.
It's things called pathogens in the unbaked mixture that can make us unwell, which are commonly found in eggs. The main culprits for making us sick are either salmonella or e-coli, which can cause nausea, acute kidney failure, and even death. Which makes a spoonful of cookie dough sound slightly less worth it when your life is basically hanging in the balance.
But it's not just the eggs that could have you vomming your guts up. Especially if you use shop-bought cookie dough mix (judging you). These mixtures are pasturised, which means that it's not the eggs but all the other ingredients you've got to worry about when it comes to containing pathogens. And more potentially infected ingredients = more risk of getting ill.
Plus, certain groups of people are more susceptible to getting sick in the first place. So if you're an older adult, a young child, a pregnant woman or someone with a lower immune system, you really need to start getting disciplined when it comes to licking the bowl.
Don't say we didn't warn you...
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