If you used to eat the raw dough of your cakes, beware. This practice is actually dangerous for your health.

Foodie children and impatient adults have long succumbed to the temptation to taste the raw cake batter. However, it is preferable to resist this temptation and wait for the dough to be cooked before tasting it. Influencer and Doctor of Virology and Immunology @thefrenchvirologist shares on her Instagram why you should not eat your raw cake dough anymore: you are at risk of serious food poisoning caused by bacteria present in flour or salmonella infection due to raw eggs.

Why don’t you eat raw cake paste?

Eating raw cake dough is to be banned: “Flours can contain microbes such as Escherichia coli bacteria that can make us sick if the dough is consumed raw or undercooked. Only cooking at the right temperature for a long enough time will kill bacteria!”

Flour can carry dangerous bacteria such as Salmonella or E. coli, which can cause gastrointestinal infections and other health problems. When flour is raw, it can be contaminated with these bacteria, which can come from a variety of sources, such as pesticides, fertilizers, water or animal feces. Eating raw dough, such as cookie dough or cake dough, can therefore lead to a potentially serious food-borne infection. It is therefore recommended to cook food containing flour completely to eliminate any risk of contamination.

Beware of raw eggs

There is another danger of eating cake dough directly in the salad bowl: the risk of infection by salmonella, a bacterium present mainly in raw or undercooked foods such as raw eggs in this case.

What are the right things to do?

It is important to follow the cooking instructions on the packages of preparations containing flour and to respect the recommended times and temperatures.

For preparations containing raw eggs, such as chocolate mousse, it is recommended to consume them quickly and store them in a refrigerator for up to 24 hours. In general, all raw foods, such as fish or meat, should be handled according to strict hygiene rules and consumed promptly to avoid contamination by bacteria. Pregnant women should be particularly vigilant because of the risk of listeriosis.

And if you absolutely want to eat raw cookie dough, there is a solution! You can make cookie dough, like in the famous Ben & Jerry’s ice cream, by cooking the flour and not incorporating an egg in the preparation.