ABC News reports that children in California and Illinois have become ill in the last several weeks after eating cookies and brownies made with marijuana.

The cookies were made by a Colorado company that says they are legal because they are sold for medical purposes. The kids apparently didn't know that; they shared the cookies during lunch and reported feeling nauseated about half an hour later.

In the most recent case, several elementary school students from Vallejo, Calif., got sick after eating marijuana-laced cookies given to one of them by a convenience store clerk.

According to the school district, the children have been released from the hospital and are doing well.

"It's unclear if any of the children knew the cookies contained cannabis," police Sgt. Jeff Bassett said in a press release. "The packages are not clearly marked.”

Police are still trying to find the person who gave the cookies to the store clerk.
 

Brian Hartman of ABC News is reporting that investigators have linked at least three different kinds of E. coli to Nestle’s cookie dough but they remain stumped as to just how the bacteria got in the product.

DNA testing of E. coli found in an unopened package of cookie dough at Nestle’s plant in Danville, Va., determined the genetic fingerprint of the E. coli found at the plant is different than E. coli that has been linked to a 30-state outbreak that has sickened at least six dozen people, and that an altogether different strain of E. coli was found in dough recovered from the home of a victim.

Dr. David Acheson, the Food and Drug Administration’s assistant commissioner for food safety said,

“The investigation is winding up. It is not exactly over yet. But we have not figured out the likely ingredient. … It is unlikely that we will ever make a final determination of how this contamination occurred. … Theres no indication that this was deliberate.”
 

During the evening of Thursday, June 18, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment urged Coloradans not to eat raw Nestle Toll House cookie dough because of possible contamination with E. coli O157:H7.

The next morning, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration warned consumers not to eat any varieties of prepackaged Nestle Toll House refrigerated cookie dough due to the risk of contamination with E. coli O157:H7. At the same time, Nestlé announced a voluntary recall of all Toll House refrigerated cookie dough products, “out of an abundance of caution.”

My colleague Evan managed to get some of that recalled cookie dough, I got some other cookie dough, and we made cookies.

In the latest video from the Safe Food Café, I stress that cookie dough is a raw product (although the eggs have been pasteurized in any commercial product) and can therefore cross-contaminate anything in the kitchen, and that the warning labels and safe-handling instructions on packages of raw cookie dough are terrible.