Salmonella Outbreak In WA Linked To Cookie Dough

Federal authorities are investigating a Salmonella outbreak linked to raw cookie dough sold at Papa Murphy’s locations nationwide.

So far, 18 people have become ill and two have been hospitalized in several states, including California, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Utah and Missouri, according to the U.S. Food & Drug Administration, which reported the most recent onset of illness occurred May 2.

The FDA and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are investigating the outbreak in collaboration with state and local partners, authorities said.

Twelve of 14 patients reported eating food from Papa Murphy’s and nine had ingested raw chocolate chip cookie or s’mores bars dough, according to the FDA.

“At this time, Papa Murphy’s notified franchise owners nationwide and has stopped selling and destroyed all Chocolate Chip Cookie dough and S’mores Bars dough at all stores,” the FDA said in an update Tuesday.

Anyone who has the dough in their refrigerator or freezer should throw it away, according to the FDA, which cautioned people to never eat raw dough if it is intended to be baked.

Salmonella symptoms usually happen within 12 to 72 hours of eating contaminated food and last four to seven days, according to the FDA. Symptoms include diarrhea, fever and abdominal cramps. Children under 5, the elderly and those with weakened immune systems are more likely to be severely ill.