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Toll House Cookie Dough Suspected Of Sickening 5 In Wash.

Posted: 10:58 am PDT June 19, 2009Updated: 4:17 pm PDT June 19, 2009

The state Health Department says Washington had five of the 66 E-coli cases nationally that may be related to eating Toll House cookie dough.

Complete list of recalled products

Spokesman Gordon MacCracken says two of those people required hospital treatment and all are now recovering.

Nestle USA has recalled Toll House refrigerated cookie dough while the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control investigate.

MacCracken listed the five Washington cases:

-- May 6, Grays Harbor County woman
-- May 12, Thurston County teenage girl, hospitalized
-- May 15, Pierce County girl
-- May 20, King County boy
-- May 21, King County girl, hospitalized

The FDA advised consumers to throw away any prepackaged, refrigerated Nestle Toll House cookie dough products in their homes. Retailers, restaurateurs and employees at other food-service operations should also not sell or serve any of the products.

Nestle spokeswoman Roz O'Hearn said "this has been a very quickly moving situation," adding the company took action less than 24 hours after hearing of the problem.

O'Hearn said the company will "cooperate fully" with the FDA's investigation.

The recall includes refrigerated cookie bar dough, cookie dough tub, cookie dough tubes, limited edition cookie dough items, seasonal cookie dough and Ultimates cookie bar dough. It extends to chocolate chip dough and other varieties, including gingerbread, sugar and peanut butter cookie dough. It does not affect any other Toll House products, including ice cream that contains Toll House raw cookie dough.

The FDA also said consumers should not try to cook the dough, even though eating cooked dough would be safe, because consumers might get bacteria on their hands and on counters and other cooking surfaces.

E. coli is a potentially deadly bacterium that can cause bloody diarrhea, dehydration and, in the most severe cases, kidney failure.

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