Where does this come from, and can I check it?

Milling does not sterilise grain, so uncooked dough is not safe to eat. The figure is taken from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.

Is this really a food fact?

Yes. It sits on the Food shelf, one of 2,600 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.

What else can I read about it?

The links under the fact point to a quiz, game, puzzle or calculator on the same subject, and the shelf below shows related facts. The wording here is original, and quoted phrases are marked as quotations.

Mondo Knows Facts

Raw flour carries bacteria from the field

Milling does not sterilise grain, so uncooked dough is not safe to eat Wheat arrives at the mill carrying soil organisms including E. coli and Salmonella, and milling removes bran and grinds the grain without killing them. Flour is a raw agricultural product, which is why cookie dough and cake batter are best left uncooked. Baking pasteurises it, since the interior reaches temperatures that destroy the bacteria. It sits in Mondo's food collection, one of 200 facts that each trace back to the reference below.

Where this comes from

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Facts that can change over time are reviewed and updated. If something here looks wrong, Mondo would rather know than be confidently incorrect.

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Food & Cooking trivia

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Tags: food-safety, flour, bacteria

Raw flour carries bacteria from the field: the short answers

Where does this come from, and can I check it?: Milling does not sterilise grain, so uncooked dough is not safe to eat. The figure is taken from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.
Is this really a food fact?: Yes. It sits on the Food shelf, one of 2,600 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.
What else can I read about it?: The links under the fact point to a quiz, game, puzzle or calculator on the same subject, and the shelf below shows related facts. The wording here is original, and quoted phrases are marked as quotations.