Medium Rare Burgers?

[Mad Cook]

True enough.

But's its about the same liklihood as being struck by lightening.

And, as pointed out above, tapeworm risk is pretty much limited to raw and very under meat.

The chef in question had very under-cooked the pork - when sliced it was raw in the middle!!!!! One of my cousins who is a meat inspector and lectures in butchery and allied food hygiene tells me that the current official health advice in the UK is still that pork should only be eaten fully cooked.

 

[Chief Longwind Of The North]

...

So you say that's why you buy your meat from a local butcher who has a good reputation and proper meat handling practices.

Where did he get that meat?

We have a butcher/meat processor who gets the meat live. He processes the meat from moo to packaged and ready to sell. We know many of the beef growers, and the conditions in which they raise their cattle, pigs, lambs, chickens, etc. This makes for strong confidence in the product.

Seeeeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North

 

[pacanis]

To play devil's advocate, one might say that a mass producer might be more frequently inspected than a smaller operation.

And then again, on the other side of the coin, look at all the backyard deer processing operations that spring up come hunting season. You are not only dependent on their food safety practices, but on your own field dressing skills starting with the shot placement. Back when I hunted it was not uncommon to put the freshly dressed deer in a cold running creek if the weather was warm and you weren't going anywhere for a while. You are opening yourself up for giardia, leptospirosis or any other organism to find it's way into your meat.

I still stand by the thought it is the individual consumer's system as to whether or not they are affected by less than stellar food handling techniques.

 

[Hoot]

I still stand by the thought it is the individual consumer's system as to whether or not they are affected by less than stellar food handling techniques.

You might be right! Rare burgers ain't kilt me yet...

 

[Andy M.]

We have a butcher/meat processor who gets the meat live. He processes the meat from moo to packaged and ready to sell. We know many of the beef growers, and the conditions in which they raise their cattle, pigs, lambs, chickens, etc. This makes for strong confidence in the product.

Seeeeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North

Accidents happen in even the best of environments. An accidental breach of a bowel that spreads some amount of harmful bacteria is all it takes. If it goes unnoticed, the damage is done. Certainly, the odds are in your favor when a processor has high safety/cleanliness standards but the risk is there.

Every individual has to make the 'medium rare or well done' decision for themselves. They have a right to all the relevant information on the subject so that decision can be made intelligently.

 

[taxlady]

OK, the logic goes like this:

A solid piece of meat can be contaminated but any contamination would be only on the surface. So if you cook a steak, the surface temps are high enough to eliminate any danger. You can leave the interior rare or medium rare with no risk.

If that piece of meat is ground for you, any surface contamination is mixed into the entire mass of ground meat so you have to cook all of it to a safe temperature.

Some have said they grind their own burger meat to be safe, but that assumes the piece of meat you bring home to grind in your kitchen isn't contaminated to begin with.
...

I've been considering searing the outside of meat before grinding it.

The chef in question had very under-cooked the pork - when sliced it was raw in the middle!!!!! One of my cousins who is a meat inspector and lectures in butchery and allied food hygiene tells me that the current official health advice in the UK is still that pork should only be eaten fully cooked.

So, the question becomes how do you define fully cooked?

...

I still stand by the thought it is the individual consumer's system as to whether or not they are affected by less than stellar food handling techniques.

That's certainly a factor. If your immune system isn't up to speed (e.g., when having chemo or a transplant), definitely be extra cautious.

 

[taxlady]

We have a butcher/meat processor who gets the meat live. He processes the meat from moo to packaged and ready to sell. We know many of the beef growers, and the conditions in which they raise their cattle, pigs, lambs, chickens, etc. This makes for strong confidence in the product.

Seeeeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North

I envy you.

Accidents happen in even the best of environments. An accidental breach of a bowel that spreads some amount of harmful bacteria is all it takes. If it goes unnoticed, the damage is done. Certainly, the odds are in your favor when a processor has high safety/cleanliness standards but the risk is there.

Every individual has to make the 'medium rare or well done' decision for themselves. They have a right to all the relevant information on the subject so that decision can be made intelligently.

In the small, local situation, the chances are that they are air cooling the meat, not water cooling it. When it is water cooled that intestinal breach won't just contaminate a little bit of that carcass, it will contaminate every carcass that comes after it and gets cooled in the same water.