Take a Second Look at Pathogens in Cereal Flours

This column offers information about food safety risks associated with raw flour consumption and how to detect and mitigate them.

Jane M. Caldwell

Food Technology Magazine

©derketta/iStock/Getty Images

Because of their low water activity (aw), wheat and other cereal flours traditionally have been viewed as antagonistic to the survival of pathogens such as Salmonella and enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC). But recent illness outbreaks from raw flour and flour products in the United States and Canada have forced a reexamination of these ingredients’ safety. “We need to remember that flours are not ready-to-eat [RTE] foods,” says Fereidoun Forghani, research scientist and consultant for IEH Laboratories.

Foodborne disease outbreaks from cereal flours may occur after consumers taste raw baked goods mixes and batters, as they often do. In …

Login or Sign Up To Continue

You’ve hit your limit of free articles. Either sign in to your existing account, or sign up to be an IFT member and get access to hundreds of digital resources and articlers.

Authors

Jane M. Caldwell PhD, contributing editor and owner of Caldwell Food Safety LLC

is a freeland science and health writer and host of the On Medical Grounds podcast (jane.mary.caldwell@gmail.com).