The blood scare

[Lion]

Hello Jordan,

I'd like to have your opinion on this matter : half cooked burgers.

Before the 80s, people were eating their hamburgers bloody, and there was no epidemic of E coli. My father ate them that way for 40 years of his life until someday someone decided that bloody burgers were evil.

So, is it that dangerous to eat half cooked bloody hamburgers, or does this just fit into the general paranoia of safety?

[Jordan Feigenbaum]

I honestly have no idea, though I'm inclined to think the latter.

[kgreen06]

Bacteria will grown on the outside of the steak, which is why it's fine to eat steak rare because there's very little chance the interior of the meat is contaminated. The problem with ground beef is that the outside of the meat, which could be contaminated is now potentially mixed in throughout the entire product.

To be on the safe side, either:

* Grind your own meat or purchase it from a reputable butcher who you know will grind it fresh and handle it properly
* Cook the meat through to temperature
* No matter what ground beef you use, don't leave it on the counter for any period of time before cooking like you would with a steak. Once the internal temp reaches the growth zone, you're just asking for trouble. It's okay to leave a steak out to come to room temperature for the reason stated above.

For other types of meat, chicken and turkey need to always be cooked through. They have bacteria (campylobactor) which is present in their body to begin with and very harmful to us (I know from personal experience...). Pork used to have a risk of trichinosis, but that's no longer the case.

Also, as a final note. Don't cook to color, cook to temperature. Slow cooked food (true bbq) will usually have a pink hue to it (even chicken!), but as long as the internal temperature has reached the proper temperature, it's safe for human consumption. Get a quality thermometer and the job is easy...

hth