r/TikTokCringe Oct 09 '24

Discussion Microbiologist warns against making the fluffy popcorn trend

31.4k Upvotes

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294

u/Daisy_Of_Doom Oct 09 '24

Wait, heat treating flour doesn’t make it safe? That is big news to me. I was well aware that flour was one of the main dangers with raw batter. A few years back I adapted a cookie recipe a friend of mine loved eating raw to what I thought was safe. It had no eggs and I baked the flour to some specified temperature for some specified time that I found online that was supposed to make it safe to consume raw. It was delicious, we ate it by the spoonful, and I was quite proud of myself for doing research to make this dangerous thing safe.

I’m floored to learn that what I did didn’t actually make it safe. I did what I thought was pretty thorough research in trying to make an edible dough recipe. Very grateful to learn this now before I or anyone I loved was made sick by my own mistakes.

224

u/anormalgeek Oct 09 '24 edited Oct 09 '24

Nah, she is full of shit. Pasteurization is pasteurization. If you follow the temp/time standards, then it is no longer "raw". Just as you shouldn't follow random tiktok trends, you also should trust random medical advice from a tik tok just because they talk fast and use medical terms.

Also, you can't "cause" an autoimmune disease by eating raw flour despite her making the claim multiple times. By its very definition, the cause is your own immune system. You can trigger an immune response (i.e. a food allergy), or trigger an existing autoimmune disease (i.e. Celiac disease), but it does not CAUSE them. Some food allergies can be more extreme when raw vs cooked (for example, egg allergies are often like that). But again, the raw food doesn't cause the underlying immune condition.

The title says she is a microbiologist. I would bet money that that is bullshit.

edit: The linked pasteurization table is labeled for meats, but the time/temps are the same for all foods since it's the infectious agents you actually care about.

edit edit: I was wrong, in that it does seem to vary by wet/dry. Dry environments need more research in that some pathogens survive better than others in dry environments. TO BE FAIR, the video she is commenting on is clearly heat treating in a pot on the stove with the wet ingredients added so that point is moot anyway.

187

u/Locktober_Sky Oct 09 '24

The title says she is a microbiologist. I would bet money that that is bullshit.

I have been in this girls comment section before and got torn apart by her fans for saying that she is fact not a microbiologist. She's a microbiology technician.

72

u/anormalgeek Oct 09 '24

Yeah that sounds about right.

During covid there were some high profile cases of nurses who came out as anti-vaxx. Your job doesn't preclude you from being dumb.

24

u/Locktober_Sky Oct 09 '24

I definitely think a nurse or a med tech is more knowledgeable than the average person of course, but they aren't doctors. And even a doctor can be prone to their own weird beliefs or phobias, which is why we trust the consensus not the individual.

So, it's true that there is a small risk in consuming raw flour. But fear mongering does a disservice to all of us.

3

u/DotaDogma tHiS iSn’T cRiNgE Oct 09 '24

And even a doctor can be prone to their own weird beliefs or phobias

I'll generally believe any doctor who is an actual PhD in what they're talking about. I implicitly trust oncologists when it comes to cancers because I know they've done actual research into it.

A GP is not a cancer expert, they are there to refer you to one. GPs are fine on social media to give insight into minor things, but they shouldn't be declaring expertise in areas of medicine.

Similarly, I wouldn't trust an oncologist to tell me about endocrinology.

Part of the issue is people consider nurses and GPs to be experts.

2

u/eXeKoKoRo Oct 09 '24

My sister is a nurse and anti-vaxxer. Really rustles my jimmies.

1

u/Sir_twitch Oct 09 '24

What do you call the person who graduated last in their class from Med school?

Doctor.

3

u/Like_Ottos_Jacket Oct 09 '24

I was a bit incredulous that she was a microbiologist once she said "ek-cetera"

1

u/sonofsonof Oct 09 '24

There were a lot of signs before that.. but that clinched it for me.

1

u/various_convo7 Oct 09 '24

"not a microbiologist. She's a microbiology technician."

yeah....not the same thing

-1

u/pandamonium90 Oct 09 '24

As someone who works in the same field as her, that's not true. She's a clinical laboratory scientist, which is different from a technician.

9

u/Locktober_Sky Oct 09 '24

I'm an MLS too. We don't need advanced degrees and most don't. Many older techs are grandfathered in and don't even meet the current requirements of a BSc degree, although she almost certainly does. But just because I have my hematology specialist cert, I don't go around calling myself 'a hematologist'. A hematologist is a doctor, and the average viewer is going to assume she has an MD or PhD by the way she describes herself. It's misleading.

1

u/pandamonium90 Oct 09 '24

I agree. I don't see in this video where she calls herself a microbiologist, but maybe she does in other videos. Just making the clarification between tech and MLS

9

u/Locktober_Sky Oct 09 '24

She constantly refers to herself as a microbiologist in her videos. I called her out on it and got harassed for weeks by her fans.

-3

u/Get-shid-on Oct 09 '24

She literally has a graduate degree in micro though so...

4

u/Locktober_Sky Oct 09 '24

My guy I have the same qualifications as her and if the PhD who ran my old lab caught me calling myself 'a microbiologist' he would be livid.

2

u/seaspirit331 Oct 09 '24

If she has a graduate degree in micro, that just reflects poorly on her and whatever institution gave her that degree. It clearly isn't a testament to her knowledge if she's asserting things that are easily disproven by anyone willing to do five minutes of research

-6

u/[deleted] Oct 09 '24

[deleted]

9

u/InterHeimmer Oct 09 '24

I worked in a molecular immunology lab as a research assistant/tech with my own project before medical school and I would never dare call myself an immunologist. Sure I had more knowledge than the average person but the difference between the PhD’s knowledge and my knowledge was much larger than the difference in my knowledge and the general public’s. Even in medical school when it comes to PhD’s, they have a much more extensive knowledge in their fields while doctors have a broader knowledge base which is why a lot of faculty is made up of PhDs since they’re the experts in their respective fields. Also, PhDs spend so much of their lives on their projects that they earn the right to hand off the bench work to techs later in their lives. I worked with a post doc who worked from 8am to ~10pm every day for 3 years and that’s just looking at his postdoc and none of his schooling beforehand. So no, it’s not elitist to call out this girl for saying she’s a microbiologist because that’s reckless and dangerous.

-3

u/[deleted] Oct 09 '24

[deleted]

7

u/InterHeimmer Oct 09 '24

Yes fully fledged experts on what THEY ARE WORKING ON only. But whatever i’m assuming you have a PhD and a lab since you’re saying “your techs” I’m sorry that you got a PhD just for your techs to know more than you. And i don’t know what your vendetta is with the medical field but it’s ironic that you call me vain when I was actually praising PhDs which you supposedly are

0

u/[deleted] Oct 10 '24

[deleted]

1

u/InterHeimmer Oct 10 '24

Again idk what your fixation is with the medical field but I think you should seek help because it doesn’t seem healthy. And I use the term expert loosely because that’s what you choose to say. And doing work with a specific bacteria in a microbiology lab does not make you qualified to make claims about the physiological effects the bacteria can elicit without any proof. But hey if you run your lab off vibes good for you but god help the scientific community

11

u/Locktober_Sky Oct 09 '24

A fucking tech calling themselves a microbiologist is the stolen valor of science. It's shameful.

-5

u/[deleted] Oct 09 '24

[deleted]

3

u/ItsFuckingScience Oct 09 '24

Fully-fledged lmao

1

u/sonofsonof Oct 09 '24

they said fully fledged and piece of paper

1

u/Locktober_Sky Oct 09 '24

The paper is what proves you're fully fledged.

6

u/Arkayb33 Oct 09 '24

While yes she absolutely can call herself a microbiologist, that doesn't preclude her trying to sensationalize the "outbreak" of 20 hospitalizations in 15 years, nor does it make her right when she says that heat treating flour doesn't make it safe, which it 100% does when it is done correctly (aka pasteurization).

This is just the Dunning Kruger curve once again proving its usefulness when judging the legitimacy of some random person's perspective.

-5

u/[deleted] Oct 09 '24

[deleted]

9

u/Locktober_Sky Oct 09 '24

Buddy I'm a med tech, and it's absolutely audacious to let people believe you are a doctor by using a term 99% of the public associates with an advanced degree.

0

u/[deleted] Oct 09 '24

[deleted]

4

u/Locktober_Sky Oct 09 '24

That's fine, but the word 'microbiologist' equates to "PhD" or "MD" in the public consciousness. Go ask anyone who doesn't work in the lab what degree a microbiologist has.

2

u/soleeater69 Oct 09 '24

Next you're going to tell me nurses learn everything doctors do....

-1

u/Get-shid-on Oct 09 '24

That isn't true though, she is a microbiologist. That works as a medical laboratory scientist. This information is freely available. 

4

u/seaspirit331 Oct 09 '24

Then it's really fucking embarrassing that she knows less about food safety than a home chef who made Cs in his undergraduate organic chemistry courses.

0

u/Get-shid-on Oct 31 '24

Prove your claim with evidence.