Kirsten Ircha 11/25/17
AP Biology E/F Even Current Event #9
AP Biology E/F Even Current Event #9
Citation:
Hamers, Laurel. “Step Away from the Cookie Dough. E. Coli Outbreaks Traced to Raw Flour.”
Science News, 22 Nov. 2017, www.sciencenews.org/article/cookie-dough-e-coli-outbreaks-raw-flour?tgt=nr.
In the article, “ Step Away from the Cookie Dough. E. Coli Outbreaks Traced to Raw Flour,” by Laurel Hamers, the author explains a common misconception. In general, many people believe that the cause of illness and disease from eating batters and doughs in due to raw eggs carrying salmonella. Although this is true in many cases, flour is another key area of concern as “The seemingly innocuous pantry staple can harbor strains of E. coli bacteria that make people sick.” Furthermore, uncooked or mishandled flour has led to serious health issues as “Flour has been implicated in two E. coli outbreaks in the United States and Canada in the last two years.” Pinning down the source of the tainted flour “which sickened 63 people between December 2015 and September 2016” proved to be extremely difficult, according to a recent account in the New England Journal of Medicine. Typically, the state health department is able to use standard questionnaires to identify clusters of reported illness. However, as flour is not usually tracked in these surveys, the public health researchers turned to in-depth interviews with 10 ill people. During these two hour interviews, the individuals were asked about what they had eaten around the time of falling ill. In some cases, people had to recall what they had eaten for specific meals up to eight weeks ago. Luckily two people were able to remember eating raw cookie dough and the scientist found the flour to be sourced from the same plant. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration was able to conclude the disease to be caused by, “E. coli bacteria that produce Shiga toxins, which make E. coli dangerous.” In many cases the bacteria was activated by water, eggs, and oil in the batters after being dormant in the bags for months. The study was eventually able, “to recall of more than 250 flour-containing products,” all coming from wheat flour at the same facility.
This topic has a large impact on society as many people eat raw cookie dough or pizza dough and do not think about the possible implication the could occur. For example, the bacteria and pathogens in dry flour are often dormant. However, once liquid reaches this flour, the bacteria is able to replicate and create harmful strands that can cause sickness. Although many people can feel that this could never happen to them, flour is very dangerous when not cooked properly. People can take this information as a lesson and avoid raw doughs and batters. Currently other methods exist to purify flour. As the article claims, “Heat treatment, for example, will rid flour of E. coli and other pathogens. But the process also changes the structure of the flour, which affects the texture of baked goods, says Rick Holley, a food safety expert at the University of Manitoba in Canada who wasn’t part of the study.” However with more recent research it has become apparent that irradiation can be used to kill parasites and pests bacteria. Nevertheless, it takes a greater amount of radiation to rid the flour of bacteria in comparison to pests. The general lesson is the wait a little bit longer for the cookies to bake in order to prevent unneeded hassle and issues.
The article has many strengths and weaknesses. To begin, the topic chosen for the piece is extremely relevant and interesting, as almost any person is lying if they claim that they have never eaten raw cookie dough or batter. Furthermore, the article is very humorous, allowing the reader to be constantly engaged and interested. However, I noticed that not many scientists and researchers are quoted. I feel the article would have been more supported and reliable with additional quotes and sources. In the future, the author can makes sure to correct this mistake. Furthermore, some points of the piece seem too informal and less academic. This error can be changed simply if the author makes sure to add more complex words or phrases and eliminate overly simple sections of the piece. These changes would contribute to the overall quality of the article.
Julia Pabafikos
ReplyDeleteMr. Ippolito
AP Biology
November 26, 2017
Hamers, Laurel. “Step Away from the Cookie Dough. E. Coli Outbreaks Traced to Raw Flour.” Science News, 22 Nov. 2017, www.sciencenews.org/article/cookie-dough-e-coli-outbreaks-raw-flour?tgt=nr.
Kirsten Ircha did a great job reviewing her article “Step Away from the Cookie Dough. E. Coli Outbreaks Traced to Raw Flour” by Laurel Hamers. I particularly enjoyed how Kirsten mentioned the fact that many people believe that the reason batter makes us sick is because of the salmonella from eggs when actually it is most likely from flour. By mentioning a common misconception, Kirsten is able to further her review and prove her point. Additionally I enjoyed that Kirsten included a solution for the problem of flour containing E. Coli and other pathogens, saying that heat treatment could exist in order to purify the flour yet Kirsten also mentions the negatives that this solution could provide such as ruining the bake goods. Lastly, I enjoyed Kirsten’s critique paragraph because of the fact that she not only states where the author went wrong but also states ways that she could improve in future articles or reviews.
However, I believe that Kirsten did have two areas in her review in which she could improve upon. Primarily, I would recommend that that Kirsten defines more of her terms and that although E. coli is a very commonly known bacteria I think she could’ve furthered her review if she went in to a little more description and detail of other bacterias that are in flour that could cause sickness. Additionally, I would encourage Kirsten to incorporate another quote to in her review that mention the article’s point of view of the different bacteria in raw batters or doughs and how we should all plan to move forward in order to insure less sickness.
Overall, Kirsten did a great job creating a well written review that illustrates how many different pathogens in things we eat so carelessly. I personally chose to read this article simply because I like many others enjoy to eat raw cake batter and really wanted to understand what kind of bacteria and pathogens are in these raw foods and how they can make someone sick. Through reading about this research I believe it provided me with a clear understanding of many bacteria or pathogens and that salmonella isn’t the only bacteria to worry about in raw goods.
AP Bio
ReplyDeleteOlivia Scotti
11/27/17
Current Event # 9
Hamers, Laurel. “Step Away from the Cookie Dough. E. Coli Outbreaks Traced to Raw Flour.”
Science News, 22 Nov. 2017, www.sciencenews.org/article/cookie-dough-e-coli-outbreaks-raw-flour?tgt=nr.
There were many aspects of Kirsten’s review written well. One part of her review that I felt she did particularly well was her description of how flour can contain E.coli and causes many people to become ill. For instance she states how “Furthermore, uncooked or mishandled flour has led to serious health issues as ‘Flour has been implicated in two E. coli outbreaks in the United States and Canada in the last two years.’ Pinning down the source of the tainted flour ‘which sickened 63 people between December 2015 and September 2016’ proved to be extremely difficult, according to a recent account in the New England Journal of Medicine.” Through this summary the reader is able to understand the main point of the article that is being reviewed. Also the reader understands details about the effects of the tainted flour. Another part of the review which was done well was the addition of quotes from research on this topic. For example “‘The U.S. Food and Drug Administration was able to conclude the disease to be caused by, ‘E. coli bacteria that produce Shiga toxins, which make E. coli dangerous.’ In many cases the bacteria was activated by water, eggs, and oil in the batters after being dormant in the bags for months. The study was eventually able, ‘to recall of more than 250 flour-containing products,’ all coming from wheat flour at the same facility.” Through this the reader understands what results have been made about this contaminated flour. This is also allows the reader to understand the tone of the article through direct quotes from the passage. Another part of the review that was done well was her ability to describe how this discovery is beneficial to the rest of the world. For instance she states, “This topic has a large impact on society as many people eat raw cookie dough or pizza dough and do not think about the possible implication the could occur. For example, the bacteria and pathogens in dry flour are often dormant.” This strengthened her review because the reader was able to see how research is useful for a lot of the population.
Although there were many parts of Kirsten’s review written well there were areas for improvement. One part of her review which could have been improved was her critique paragraph. Although she did mention the negatives and positives of the article I wish she had been less general when stating her positives and gone into more detail. Through adding more specific details about the positives of the article the reader would have had a better understanding of the article. Another part of the article that could have been improved was if she added more details about what effects the E. coli has on people bodies. Also this would help strengthen her description of the research as a whole.
Overall, I felt Kirsten wrote a strong review of this article which the reader could easily understand. Her review was written clearly and smoothly which allowed the reader to learn about the topic more easily and understand the research conducted. I enjoyed reading this review because I learned more about how careful you should be if you eat raw cookie dough and pizza dough. Also through adding so many details about the how flour can harm you the reader was able to clearly understand the benefits of people researching this topic. Overall, I liked how she described the research that was done and the effects on the present world. Through her discussion of this article the reader got a better grasp on the topic and the importance of this new research.
Nina Veru
ReplyDeleteAP-Bio, C-Odd
Current Event #9
November 27, 2017
Hamers, Laurel. “Step Away from the Cookie Dough. E. Coli Outbreaks Traced to Raw Flour.”
Science News, 22 Nov. 2017, www.sciencenews.org/article/cookie-dough-e-coli-outbreaks-raw-flour?tgt=nr.
After reading the review by Kirsten Ircha, I noticed many strengths throughout her writing. Ircha chose an article by Laurel Hammers, addressing how raw flour can be linked to an E. Coli outbreak. Ircha does an excellent job of incorporating quotes into her writing. For example, Ircha states, “uncooked or mishandled flour has led to serious health issues as ‘Flour has been implicated in two E. coli outbreaks in the United States and Canada in the last two years.’” This quote was neatly incorporated into the author’s writing without disrupting the piece. In addition, the author did a great job of explaining the relevance of this article. Many people today, including myself, enjoy consuming raw cookie dough or cake batter. Although they pose as a delicious treat, many people do not understand the health concerns associated with this consumption. Ircha informs the reader of consuming raw flour, “the bacteria and pathogens in dry flour are often dormant. However, once liquid reaches this flour, the bacteria is able to replicate and create harmful strands that can cause sickness.” Lastly, along with stating what the original author could improve on, Ircha poses suggestions for making the article better. For example, she states the author should have incorporated more quotes from scientists.
Although this review was excellent, there are still some things Ircha could improve on. For example, Ircha’s topic sentences were could have been more elaborate. Ircha states, “The article has many strengths and weaknesses.” In order to improve her writing, Ircha could have provided more details into this topic sentence to introduce the paragraph better. In addition, Ircha should have read over her work more closely to check for grammatical errors. For instance, Ircha claims, “the author can makes sure.” “Makes” should be replace with “make”.
Overall I felt that this was a strong review, and I really felt as though I learned a lot of new information. As someone who is guilty of eating raw cookie dough, this article gave me insight into the potential dangers of doing so. I always knew that consuming raw egg was bad for your health, but I was unaware that consuming raw flour was also bad. Something new I learned was that when water is mixed with flower, the pathogens and bacteria come alive and can contaminate people. Heat kills this bacteria, which ultimately makes flour safe to eat only when cooked.
Olivia Doyle
ReplyDeleteMr. Ippolito
AP Biology: Current Event #10
6 December 2017
Hamers, Laurel. “Step Away from the Cookie Dough. E. Coli Outbreaks Traced to Raw Flour.”
Science News, 22 Nov. 2017, www.sciencenews.org/article/cookie-dough-e-coli-outbreaks-raw-flour?tgt=nr
This week, I read a review of my classmate Kirsten’s article that discussed traces of e.coli bacteria found in raw flour, which is in cookie dough. The article talked about the common misconception that people get sick from eating cookie dough because of the raw eggs. Instead, the author argued that flour is also a key concern in consuming cookie dough, because of the possibility of the presence of E.coli. Kirsten provided an excellent summary of the article, and was sure to include how the scientists performed the experiment and how their results led to the conclusion that raw flour in cookie dough was making people ill. Kirsten also described in detail how the e.coli bacteria caused illness, saying that “in many cases the bacteria was activated by water, eggs, and oil in the batters after being dormant in the bags for months.” Lastly, Kirsten talked about possible solutions to this problem, describing the possibility of heat treatment to rid the flour of e.coli and other bacteria. This demonstrates Kirsten’s understanding and research of the topic.
Although Kirsten’s review was very well-written, there were some areas which she could have improved on. For one, she should have discussed the other cases presented in the article in which people got sick from flour, not just in cookie dough. This gives validity to her argument and proves that the flour is the source of the E.coli bacteria. Secondly, Kirsten should have discussed more in depth what she liked about the article, as it would have shown the reader her interest in the topic and appreciation for the author’s writing.
This article was very interesting, as I always thought that eggs having salmonella were the reason you were not supposed to eat raw cookie dough. I never thought raw flour would be the source of illness. I very much enjoy eating raw cookie dough, but I will think twice next time I decide to.