Pillsbury Flour Recalled Over E. Coli Concerns

According to a recent report from the FDA, some bags of Pillsbury’s Best Bread Flour are being recalled due to concerns that it might be contaminated by E. coli. Pillsbury is voluntarily pulling around 4,600 cases of the five-pound bags of flour from stores in states across the Northeastern United States, including Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Maine, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Virginia.

So far, 17 cases of E. coli linked to flour have been reported to the CDC. However, the manufacturer of Pillsbury, a company called Hometown Food Co., insists that none of the cases have been specifically tied to its brand and that the recall is a safety precaution. Pillsbury isn’t the only affected brand: Last week, King Arthur recalled 114,000 bags of contaminated flour (a brand of flour produced by Aldi was also recalled.)

This has been an especially hard year for Pillsbury: Back in March Pillsbury recalled 100,000 bags of flour due to potential salmonella contamination.

Before taking on any new baking projects, the FDA is encouraging anyone who has recently purchased Pillsbury flour to ensure it’s not part of the potentially contaminated batch. The UPC code for the recalled batch is 051500200315 and expiration dates will read June 8, 2020 or June 9, 2020. If you still aren’t sure if your flour is part of the recall, the FDA has provided photos of the packaging and barcodes. Hometown Food. Co. will offer coupons to replace the recalled flour; interested customers can call 1-866-219-9333.

Although you’ve heard it repeated again and again that eating raw cookie dough is unsafe because of the eggs, you should also avoid eating it because of the raw flour. In its raw form, flour “hasn’t been treated to kill germs like Escherichia coli,” according to the CDC. Looking for more information on how to safely consume and store flour? Check out Kitchn’s complete guide.