Nestle is recalling its popular Toll House refrigerated cookie dough this morning after it received complaints from stricken consumers who ate the dough raw.

The FDA is currently investigating 66 supposed E. coli illnesses across 28 states that are reported to be linked to the raw cookie dough, and 25 of those people have been hospitalized though no one has died.

They’re advising consumers, retailers and restaurateurs who have bought the dough to throw it away. Proper baking of the dough would normally kill any E. coli present, but since the dough was eaten raw that precaution obviously wasn’t followed. Because of the investigation it’s recommended the dough not be cooked anyway because of the possibility of cross-contamination.

The recall includes refrigerated cookie bar dough, cookie dough tubs, cookie dough tubes, limited edition cookie dough items, seasonal cookie doughs and Ultimates cookie bar dough. It does not affect any other Toll House products. A full list of specific products can be found at ABCLocal.

Haven’t we been told for years and years now not to eat cookie dough because of the raw eggs in it? I hope none of these people decide to go after Nestle, who swiftly rolled out the recall within 24 hours of first hearing of the problem, and who clearly state on the packages that the dough should not be eaten raw.

[image: flickr]

Another trip to Sam’s, another box of candy bars! This time I found the Nestle Crunch Crisp, and much like the Snickers Charged I liked it well enough.

I’m not a fan of Nestle chocolate much anymore. Like Hershey I think the quality has gone downhill over the years though there are still the occasional treats from both that I’ll pick up when I get a craving. A Nestle Crunch is one of those, though I prefer the mini bars because a regular sized with the sub-standard “chocolate” is too much.

Anyway, the packaging for this one features an ad for American Idol, and considering the time frame I picked these up American Idol was still in its recent run, so at least they’re not expired! The bars are 1.74 oz and the wrapper has the familiar blue of a regular Crunch bar with a URL to forthekidinyou.com.

The bar is two crispy vanilla wafers with chocolate creme sandwiched between them. The outer covering of chocolate also contains the crisped rice bits of a regular bar.

The chocolate creme actually made the bar for me, though, I think. It had a strong chocolate-like flavor (and I say flavor because chocolate isn’t listed on the ingredients list, if you can believe it), that balanced out the bland chocolate of the outer coating (which ended up all over my fingers even at a room temp of 70 degrees).

Overall, I liked it and the kids liked it. I still can’t finish a full bar because of the over-punch of sweetness, but there’s no fear of it going to waste around here!

I’ve often wondered why Canadian chocolate goodies aren’t readily available in the US. I haven’t been able to find any good reason for it other than “they just aren’t.” My thought on it has always been that they’ve got a hugely untapped market this side of the border, so why don’t they just give it a shot? I for one would welcome them with open arms!

Anyway, I’ve been very fortunate to have good friends in Canada who don’t mind “goody swaps” every now and then — they send me Coffee Crisps and Aero Bars (as well as an amazing variety of potato chips) and I send them Whatchamacallits and Heath Bars. I’ve been jonesing for another trade but the weather this time of year isn’t very cooperative: the last time we swapped during summer I had to keep my incoming box in the fridge for a day before trying to peel the wrappers off the now-puddled chocolate chunks.

My favorite Canadian candy bar, Coffee Crisp, apparently had a petition going for it not too long ago, urging Nestle to make Coffee Crisp available in the US. They supposedly “won” last year and Nestle agreed to start selling nationwide, but I have yet to see anything in my area and the list of stores is still pretty short.

CanadianFavourites.com has a great variety of treats that they’ll ship nationwide, though shipping is ouchy and requires a minimum order of $30.

Though I could really, really go for a Coffee Crisp right now, I’ll wait a few months before it’s safe to ship back and forth myself — I like providing a friend north of the border with something they’re deprived of too.