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nafex - Re: [NAFEX] The Case of the 'Poisonous' Pawpaw Cookies

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  • From: "Stephen Sadler" <Docshiva@Docshiva.org>
  • To: "'North American Fruit Explorers'" <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [NAFEX] The Case of the 'Poisonous' Pawpaw Cookies
  • Date: Tue, 19 Jul 2005 16:15:47 -0700

I would guess one of your ingredients, tools, or work surfaces was
contaminated with a pathogen. You've described food poisoning pretty well.

Stephen Sadler, Ph.D.
USDA 9, AHS heat zone 8,
Sacramento CA - Mediterranean climate

-----Original Message-----
From: nafex-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org
[mailto:nafex-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Lucky Pittman
Sent: Tuesday, July 19, 2005 3:01 PM
To: nafex@lists.ibiblio.org; jetche3@yahoo.com; sbjordan1@mindspring.com;
jfischer@vet.uga.edu
Subject: [NAFEX] The Case of the 'Poisonous' Pawpaw Cookies

Wondered if anyone else has experienced anything like this?

On Sunday night, my daughter was cooking up a batch of chocolate chip
cookies to mail to our son who's off at college for the summer...
Within an hour, people were becoming nauseous, and before we 'made the
connection', at least a dozen people were sick, with symptoms ranging from
nausea to vomiting to abdominal cramping and diarrhea. Called my daughter
at home, and yes, she'd had some GI distress after eating the cookies, but
hadn't mentioned it to anyone.

Retrieved the last few cookies and disposed of them, but it may be some
time before some of these folks eat anything else that I cook, especially
if it's something out of the ordinary - like made with persimmons,
mulberries, juneberries, etc. Looks like everyone will survive, but I bet
I'll have a hard time getting 'em to try C.mas or Che fruit in the future.
The toxicologist teased me about running an extract of my cookies through
the GC/MS instrument to see what toxin I'd dosed everyone with.
Maybe someone in the bioterrorism business would be interested in my recipe?

Has anyone else experienced gastrointestinal disturbances in themselves, or
other folks whom you've shared pawpaws with?

Lucky Pittman
USDA Cold Zone 6
AHS Heat Zone 7
Hopkinsville, KY






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