MONITOR:I AM CAUGHT somewhere between 56 and 75 degrees. It is not a comfortable place to be, the dangers are inherent but what am I meant to do? As a cook my objective is to make something good to eat, as a father the safety of my children is paramount.
Order a burger in this country and increasingly you will be told that it will only be served well done. The facts are pretty straight forward, the interpretation rather more complicated. And at the heart of it all lies Escherichia coli O157:H7.
As we head into the barbecue season (hopefully), what are we to do? There are literally hundreds of serotypes of the bacterium E coli and most are harmless, but this burger bug is a bit of a problem. And he is something of a new kid on the block – O157:H7 appears only to have come into existence in the 1980s.
Cross contamination in the processing of the meat is the main danger area, but the common fly is another. Contact with infected live animals and the simple act of bad hygiene can lead to cross contamination. What makes mince such a problem is that any contamination is mixed thoroughly through the meat.
So the Food Safety Authority’s direction when it comes to burgers is to cook to at least 70 degrees. For burger enthusiasts, and I am one, that is the equivalent to nuked. Particularly if you are relying on your barbecue to do all the cooking. So what is the answer? Unfortunately there isn’t one – you have to take the risk.
There are some who might argue that one answer is to mince the beef yourself, or not to mince at all and hand chop. But neither route overcomes the problem. If the meat is contaminated with O157:H7 it will look, smell and feel perfect, you will just end up mincing or cutting the burger bug back into the meat.
There is no doubting the real danger O157:H7 poses. Young children, the elderly and those with weak immune systems are particularly exposed and in the past there has been resulting liver and kidney damage, and even fatalities. For the rest of us, however, it is likely to amount to a few uncomfortable days for which there is no cure other than rest and lots of water.
So can I elect to take the risk? In your own home you can, for the moment, do as you please. Advice from one consultant I spoke to is not to make your burgers too thick and to ensure there is no pinkness on the inside. My own method, and one used commonly in restaurants, is to chargrill for a few minutes, then transfer your burger to the oven to finish cooking and where 70 degrees centigrade will bring a less nuked result.
In a restaurant environment things are not so easy. If they agree to cook your burger medium, then strictly speaking they are failing to comply with regulation 852/2004. Assuming you do not fall into one of the categories mentioned above, the risk seems to me to be rather small and one I am happy to take. But then I don’t intend giving up eating steak tartar or mayonnaise made from raw eggs, and I have forced open more cooked mussels and clams that remain closed than I can count and have never been ill. And for a restaurant that agrees to my request for a medium burger, it would be churlish to even consider suing them. Where is the case? harnold@irishtimes.com
Food Safety Authority of Ireland website: www.fsai.ie