@Risk

Last week, Nestle announced that it will begin using heat-treated flour in the manufacture of its Nestle Toll House refrigerated cookie dough.

This move came two days after routine testing found two samples of Nestle Toll House refrigerated cookie dough manufactured at the company’s Danville, Virginia facility were contaminated with E. coli O157:H7. The finished product involved never left the factory or entered the supply chain. None was shipped, and no product is being recalled.

However, this new incident certainly serves as yet another wake-up call that more needs to be done to make this product –and by extension, the entire food supply –safe.

Remember: back in June 2009, Nestle voluntarily recalled refrigerated cookie dough after 72 people in 30 states were infected with E. coli O157:H7 linked to eating raw Nestle cookie dough.

Unfortunately, despite multiple investigations, the origin of that contamination remains a mystery. (How could E.coli 0157 –which lives in the intestines of cattle –show up in cookie dough? The risk typically associated with cookie dough is Salmonella –from raw eggs. )

And now, it has happened, again.

The good news is that Nestle’s newly implemented “best-in-class” testing protocol discovered the tainted product before it was shipped. Also, the company immediately began converting to the use of heat-treated flour, even though that will result in a temporary suspension of production and potential shortages of product on store shelves.

I’m curious, though: Why did the company zero in on flour so quickly? Is there a recognized risk associated with flour? If so, why didn’t Nestle begin heat-treating its flour after the recall in June? And shouldn’t other manufacturers that use flour be doing the same?