More E. Coli Found in Nestle Toll House Cookie Dough

Seven months after the sweeping recall of all Nestle Toll House premade cookie dough products prompted by dozens of reports of consumers becoming ill, two more samples of the food have tested positive for E. coli, a potentially fatal form of foodborne bacteria.

Nestle USA said it will change how it makes its popular Toll House cookie dough, which is sold in bars, tubs, and tubes, in part to limit the risks of E. coli contamination, a cause of food poisoning. Nestle plans to start using heat-treated flour in its Toll House refrigerated cookie dough, according to a Reuters news report.

The samples of cookie dough which tested positive for E. coli on January 11 were discovered before any of the tainted batches were shipped to stores. No Toll House dough now on store shelves is suspected of being contaminated with E. coli, officials said.

Previous Recall of Toll House Dough

All Toll House refrigerated premade cookie dough products were recalled in June 2009 after the Food and Drug Administration said there had been 66 reports since March 2009 of consumers becoming sick after eating uncooked Toll House dough.

Eating raw Toll House dough, while a common guilty pleasure for many people, is nonetheless discouraged due to the risks of contracting bacterial infections.

The consumer illness reports came from 28 states and about 25 of those sickened had to be hospitalized. The Toll House products were later allowed back on store shelves after the Virginia plant where the dough was made got a serious scrubbing and cleared FDA inspections.

The Nestle processing plant will close until January 25 so the facility can be converted to using heat-treated flour, officials said.

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