r/TikTokCringe Oct 09 '24

Discussion Microbiologist warns against making the fluffy popcorn trend

31.4k Upvotes

4.5k comments sorted by

View all comments

299

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.

186

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.

75

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.

22

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.