Cow E. Coli in Cookie Dough Stumps Feds

FDA still has no idea how bacteria made its way into Nestle dough

(NEWSER) - The FDA has confirmed the presence of E. coli in cookie dough from Nestle's Virginia plant, reports the Washington Post. The plant's refrigerated cookie dough was the prime suspect in an outbreak of E. coli-related illness that sickened 69 people in 29 states. But investigators remain confounded as to how the bacteria, commonly found in cow intestines, ended up in cookie dough. More»

(AP) - Nestle is voluntarily recalling Toll House refrigerated cookie dough products after a number of illnesses were reported by those who ate the dough raw. The FDA and CDC are investigating reported E. coli illnesses that might be related, the company said. Sixty-six reports of illness in 28 states have come in since March, and about 25 people have been hospitalized. No one has died. More»

There's a good chance it's fecal matter: study

(NEWSER) - If you’re reading this on your smartphone, you might want to go wash your hands now: A new study out of London finds that one out of six cellphones has fecal matter on it. UK researchers swabbed 390 mobile phones and the British hands that used them, and found that 16% of both were contaminated with E. coli bacteria—which, yes, comes from poop, Time reports. More»

Other veggies off the hook

(NEWSER) - On Sunday Germany’s E. coli outbreak—which has now killed 29 people—was blamed on bean sprouts ; on Monday it wasn’t . Now, apparently, the sprouts are once again being fingered as the culprit. “People who ate sprouts were nine times more likely to have bloody diarrhea than those who did not,” says Germany’s head of disease control. “The links are ever clearer.” On the other hand, “thousands of tests carried out on tomatoes, cucumbers, and lettuce have proved negative.” More»

German officials reverse course on outbreak cause

(NEWSER) - Okay, so maybe it's not the bean sprouts after all. German officials did a 180 today, stating that initial tests showed no evidence that sprouts from an organic farm are actually to blame for the deadly E. coli outbreak. Of 40 samples, 23 have so far tested negative for the "super-toxic" strain of bacteria that has killed 22 so far, the AP reports. The rest of the samples are still being tested. More»