Never Eat These 5 Foods Raw, Food Safety Experts Say

Reviewed by Dietitian Emily Lachtrupp, M.S., RD

Key Points

• Some common foods are safest when cooked or pasteurized because heat destroys harmful bacteria or naturally occurring toxins.

• Food safety experts explain the risks behind 5 specific foods. 

• Knowing which ingredients should never be eaten raw can help protect people at higher risk.

Salads, fresh fruit, crisp carrot sticks—plenty of foods are perfectly safe to eat raw if they’ve been handled, stored and prepped correctly. But others pose a significant safety risk when consumed before they’ve been adequately cooked or heated, and understanding that risk can make a big difference between enjoying a delicious meal and experiencing a bout of illness.

For Donald W. Schaffner, Ph.D., an extension specialist in food science and distinguished professor and chair of the Department of Food Science at Rutgers University, the question of whether a given food is safe to eat raw is one of risk. “I don’t like to give people advice that says, ‘always do this’ or ‘never do that,'” he says. “I prefer to educate people on the risks and let them make their own decisions.”

That said, Schaffner notes that certain raw foods pose a documented risk to human health due to the potential presence of pathogens or toxins that are killed or deactivated during the cooking process. Here are five common foods that should be cooked or pasteurized before you eat them to avoid the risk of foodborne illness. 

Cookie Dough

In a bygone era, the final step of making a batch of cookies was letting kids lick the bowl and spoon of any excess batter—but it’s now known that certain uncooked ingredients in raw dough can contain pathogens that cause foodborne illness.

“We have warned people for a while not to eat raw cookie dough because of concerns about Salmonella coming from eggs that are used in cookie dough,” Schaffner says. But eggs aren’t the only reason to avoid licking the bowl after you make a batch of snickerdoodles, he says: “We now know that raw flour can also contain pathogens like Salmonella and E. coli, so this is another reason not to eat raw dough.”

Instead, use a silicone spatula to scrape every last bit of batter from the bowl. It’ll eliminate that risk and help you get the most out of that batch of cookies. If you’re still in the mood to eat unbaked cookie dough, make it with pasteurized flour and eggs—or seek out products made with them, typically marketed as “edible cookie dough,” from your supermarket. 

Unpasteurized Milk

Raw milk has become a hot topic in the news, and, unfortunately, a big reason for that is the long list of outbreaks of foodborne illness that have been linked to its consumption. “Raw milk carries well‑documented risks because it has not been pasteurized—the only proven step to eliminate pathogens such as E. coli, Campylobacter, Listeria and Salmonella,” says Jessica Clancy-Strawn, M.A., RDN, a kidney wellness dietitian based in Houston.

Consumption of unpasteurized milk is particularly risky for children, older people and those who are pregnant or immunocompromised. Pasteurized or ultra-pasteurized milk, which has been heated to a high-enough temperature for a long-enough time to kill these harmful pathogens, doesn’t pose a food safety risk the way raw milk does. 

Ground Beef

You’ve probably seen the footnote on restaurant menus warning that consuming certain foods, including undercooked meats, can increase your risk for foodborne illness. And while many people prefer their burgers cooked medium-rare, that warning is there for a reason. “There are certain foods that we know to be risky because they’ve been linked to illness in the past,” Schaffner says. “Eating rare or undercooked ground beef continues to lead to foodborne disease outbreaks.”

The primary pathogen of concern with ground beef is E. coli O157:H7, even small amounts of which can cause serious illness or death in vulnerable populations such as children, immunocompromised people and the elderly. To avoid this risk, only consume ground beef that’s been heated to an internal temperature of at least 160°F, which is hot enough to kill off this nasty microbe. 

Kidney Beans

Not all risk from consuming certain uncooked or undercooked foods is due to the presence of harmful pathogens. Some foods, including certain types of dried beans, contain naturally occurring compounds that can cause health problems if consumed—but are deactivated when the food is sufficiently heated. 

“There are certain beans that contain toxic chemicals called phytohaemagglutinins,” Schaffner says. “These must be properly cooked to inactivate the toxins.” Red kidney beans contain high concentrations of phytohaemagglutinin, or PHA, which can lead to gastrointestinal issues and serious kidney problems within just a few hours of eating them, even in small amounts—as few as four undercooked beans. Other raw beans that contain PHA in smaller but significant amounts include black beans and white cannellini beans.

To avoid undercooking kidney beans, ensure that they’re cooked at 212°F for at least 10 minutes, which will deactivate PHA. This is easy to accomplish when cooking kidney beans on the stove, but using a slow cooker—which may only reach as high as 167°F—requires additional steps. Reduce the risk of PHA toxicity when cooking kidney beans by presoaking beans for five hours, discarding the water and then boiling them for at least 30 minutes before ensuring that they’re fully cooked.

Shiitake & Morel Mushrooms

Many wild mushroom species are toxic to humans and should never be consumed under any circumstances. Some foraged and cultivated mushrooms are nontoxic and can be eaten raw without issue—but others, including shiitake mushrooms and morel mushrooms, have been found to cause foodborne illness when uncooked or undercooked. 

“There are mushrooms that are just a little bit toxic, so these should be cooked, and when they’ve not been cooked properly, this has led to foodborne disease outbreaks,” Schaffner says. In several cases, consuming uncooked or undercooked true morels has caused gastrointestinal symptoms and neurological symptoms, which have resulted in hospitalization and even death.

Shiitake mushrooms, a more common cultivated variety, can also lead to health problems if consumed raw or undercooked. “Shiitake mushrooms can cause flagellate dermatitis when eaten raw or undercooked due to the compound lentinan, which heat inactivates,” Clancy-Strawn says. “Cooking also breaks down chitin in mushroom cell walls, improving digestibility and nutrient absorption.”

Those most at risk of flagellate dermatitis, which causes a rash that presents as red parallel stripes with severe itching within one to five days of consumption, include children, older adults and immunocompromised people. While flagellate dermatitis is treatable with medicines like steroids and antihistamines, it’s important to cook shiitake mushrooms thoroughly to reduce the risk.

Our Expert Take

Several common foods can pose a heightened risk of foodborne illness or toxicity when uncooked or undercooked. Consuming raw flour and eggs, unpasteurized milk, and raw or undercooked ground beef can increase your risk of exposure to life-threatening foodborne pathogens like Salmonella, Listeria and E. coli O157:H7, so it’s important to ensure these products are sufficiently cooked (or pasteurized) before you eat them. Other foods, like raw kidney beans, morel mushrooms and shiitake mushrooms, contain toxins that must be heated sufficiently to deactivate the harmful compounds. Children, the elderly and immunocompromised people are at higher risk of contracting foodborne illness from these foods if not cooked properly.

Read the original article on EatingWell