Thread: Medium/Rare Burger Dangers

On Wed 16 Jul 2008 08:56:27p, Corey Richardson wrote in
rec.food.cooking
<news:[email protected] >:

> Thinking about it, how many people *actually* die or get ill in
> the US from eating underdone burgers?
>
> Not that many, probably...
>
> Can you actually specify at US BK's, McDonalds that you want
> your burger rare?
>
> In the UK, they (the FSA) *demand* that burgers are only served
> well done.
>
> Or is it that UK beef not to be trusted?
>
>

AFAIK you can't specify doneness of burgers in fast food places in
the US. I always specify med-rare in burger restaurants, though.
Rare is just too rare for burgers because they never get it right.
I do like steaks rare and just barely warm in the middle. Yum. I'm
getting hungry now though I had a nice lunch out and planned not to
eat dinner tonight. More fodder for any food snobs; it was Red
Lobster(tm) and grilled garlic shrimp and steamed snow crab legs
(cooked perfectly), nice baked potato and a salad. And a Heineken.
Wonderful company of my parents, whom I rarely have time to out to
eat with these days. ) My dad is looking thin and mom says he
barely eats but he got the shrimp fettacini alfrado. Yes, my
spelling sucks. Mom got bacon-wrapped scallops and grilled
barbequed shrimp.

--
Cheryl

Corey Richardson <KB^[email protected]`R> wrote:

>Can you actually specify at US BK's, McDonalds that you want your burger
>rare?

Not sure; I don't eat at those places, but in slightly nicer
burger chains you can certainly order a rare burger.

>In the UK, they (the FSA) *demand* that burgers are only served well
>done.

I think the larger issue here is that Americans often tolerate
public health problems that would cause widespread alarm elsewhere
in the world. In the UK diseases like rabies and plague have
been eradicated; not so in the US.

When in London earlier this year, I noticed some taxis had
painted on their doors: "Warning; you may contract bubonic
plague by riding in this vehicle". This was of course intended
as a joke, a reference to the tourist value of the UK's
long ago history with plague. However in the US people still
catch bubonic plague, and there are frequently plague warning signs
up on hiking trails and in camping spots, so the idea of a fake,
joke plague warning I found a bit unsettling.

Steve

Steve wrote:

> I think the larger issue here is that Americans often tolerate
> public health problems that would cause widespread alarm elsewhere
> in the world. In the UK diseases like rabies and plague have
> been eradicated; not so in the US.

Not like those bastions of public health, Mexico and China.

Bob

Corey Richardson wrote:
> Thinking about it, how many people *actually* die or get ill in the US
> from eating underdone burgers?

Millions get sick every day... however food poisoning is the most
under reported illness there is.

If you grind your own meat while adhering to proper food safety rules
you can eat it as rare as you like, you can actually eat it uncooked
with no risk whatsoever.

Any preground mystery meat must be cooked pretty much medium well...
however to be perfectly safe it really should be cooked well done, as
in grey-dry.

Anyone who eats preground mystery meat for any reason whatsoever is a
certifiable imbecile... it's actually far safer to eat fresh roadkill.

In article <[email protected]>,
Corey Richardson <KB^[email protected]`R> wrote:

> Thinking about it, how many people *actually* die or get ill in the US
> from eating underdone burgers?
>
> Not that many, probably...
>
> Can you actually specify at US BK's, McDonalds that you want your burger
> rare?

Not that I have ever seen, but considering how thin the average fast
food burger is, I doubt its possible to even cook one at all without it
getting fairly well done.

On Jul 17, 12:11 pm, Sheldon <PENMAR...@aol.com> wrote:

>
> .. it's actually far safer to eat fresh roadkill.

As Larry said; " the 'Catch of the Day' on RT.89" (Well, he actually
said I-89 but our UK cousins wouldn't know that goes through Vermont.)

If you hit and kill a deer while driving, the game wardens (who must
be notified to remove the carcass) will often donate the deer (if the
internal organs haven't been mauled) to a needy family. That can
amount to 75-125lbs of fresh venison.... Poor Bambi....

Steve Kramer
Chiang Mai, Thailand
http://www.photoenvisions.com
10 years minus one month and 4 days

"Steve Pope" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:g5mc17$q1j$[email protected]..
> Corey Richardson <KB^[email protected]`R> wrote:
>
>>Can you actually specify at US BK's, McDonalds that you want your burger
>>rare?
>
> Not sure; I don't eat at those places, but in slightly nicer
> burger chains you can certainly order a rare burger.
>
>>In the UK, they (the FSA) *demand* that burgers are only served well
>>done.
>
> I think the larger issue here is that Americans often tolerate
> public health problems that would cause widespread alarm elsewhere
> in the world. In the UK diseases like rabies and plague have
> been eradicated; not so in the US.
>
> When in London earlier this year, I noticed some taxis had
> painted on their doors: "Warning; you may contract bubonic
> plague by riding in this vehicle". This was of course intended
> as a joke, a reference to the tourist value of the UK's
> long ago history with plague. However in the US people still
> catch bubonic plague, and there are frequently plague warning signs
> up on hiking trails and in camping spots, so the idea of a fake,
> joke plague warning I found a bit unsettling.
>
> Steve

Yes, we have pet rats and we are nearly consumed with the plague.

TFM®

"Sheldon" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Corey Richardson wrote:
>> Thinking about it, how many people *actually* die or get ill in the US
>> from eating underdone burgers?
>
> Millions get sick every day... however food poisoning is the most
> under reported illness there is.
>
> If you grind your own meat while adhering to proper food safety rules
> you can eat it as rare as you like, you can actually eat it uncooked
> with no risk whatsoever.
>
> Any preground mystery meat must be cooked pretty much medium well...
> however to be perfectly safe it really should be cooked well done, as
> in grey-dry.
>
> Anyone who eats preground mystery meat for any reason whatsoever is a
> certifiable imbecile... it's actually far safer to eat fresh roadkill.
>

I have done both and I find the fresh roadkill to be favorable.


TFM®

"Corey Richardson" <KB^[email protected]`R> wrote in message
news:[email protected]..
> Thinking about it, how many people *actually* die or get ill in the US
> from eating underdone burgers?
>
> Not that many, probably...
>
> Can you actually specify at US BK's, McDonalds that you want your burger
> rare?
>

Just thought id mention that Denny's(at least the Denny's I go to) wont
cook any burger med rare.
My friend tried to order that way they cited health risk and declined. he
had to order it medium.

In article <dSBfk.16569$[email protected]>,
"Matt Ferrari" <[email protected]> wrote:

> "Corey Richardson" <KB^[email protected]`R> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]..
> > Thinking about it, how many people *actually* die or get ill in the US
> > from eating underdone burgers?
> >
> > Not that many, probably...
> >
> > Can you actually specify at US BK's, McDonalds that you want your burger
> > rare?
> >
>
> Just thought id mention that Denny's(at least the Denny's I go to) wont
> cook any burger med rare.
> My friend tried to order that way they cited health risk and declined. he
> had to order it medium.

Denny's is not a fast food restaurant. Also, some states ban restaurants
from serving hamburger cooked rare.

In article <[email protected]>,
"Bob Terwilliger" <virtualgoth@die_spammer.biz> wrote:

> Steve wrote:
>
> > I think the larger issue here is that Americans often tolerate
> > public health problems that would cause widespread alarm elsewhere
> > in the world. In the UK diseases like rabies and plague have
> > been eradicated; not so in the US.
>
> Not like those bastions of public health, Mexico and China.

The UK is no paragon either, what with their Mad Cow disease.

Shawn Hirn said...

> In article <[email protected]>,
> "Bob Terwilliger" <virtualgoth@die_spammer.biz> wrote:
>
>> Steve wrote:
>>
>> > I think the larger issue here is that Americans often tolerate
>> > public health problems that would cause widespread alarm elsewhere
>> > in the world. In the UK diseases like rabies and plague have
>> > been eradicated; not so in the US.
>>
>> Not like those bastions of public health, Mexico and China.
>
> The UK is no paragon either, what with their Mad Cow disease.


Plague in the US?!? What plague?!? No epidemic here that I know of.

Andy
Eating bloody rare buffalo. No problems.

On Jul 17, 6:14*am, Andy <q> wrote:

> Plague in the US?!? What plague?!? No epidemic here that I know of.

Yersina pestis infections (usually contracted by contact with mouse
feces)
still occur, but with modern antibiotics we don't see epidemics of
it. IIRC
it's a problem mainly in the Southwest.

Cindy Hamilton

Sheldon wrote:
> Corey Richardson wrote:
>> Thinking about it, how many people *actually* die or get ill in the US
>> from eating underdone burgers?
>
> Millions get sick every day... however food poisoning is the most
> under reported illness there is.
>
> If you grind your own meat while adhering to proper food safety rules
> you can eat it as rare as you like, you can actually eat it uncooked
> with no risk whatsoever.
>
> Any preground mystery meat must be cooked pretty much medium well...
> however to be perfectly safe it really should be cooked well done, as
> in grey-dry.
>
> Anyone who eats preground mystery meat for any reason whatsoever is a
> certifiable imbecile... it's actually far safer to eat fresh roadkill.
>

I've been eating preground mystery meat almost everyday all my life and
never gotten sick from it. So I guess that makes me a certifiable
imbecile for never getting sick.

On Jul 16, 8:56*pm, Corey Richardson <KB...@EbP0V7K.s`R> wrote:
> Thinking about it, how many people *actually* die or get ill in the US
> from eating underdone burgers?

Actually, we've just had a multi-state outbreak of E. coli. Here's
some info:
http://www.cdc.gov/ecoli/outbreaks.html
Looks like no deaths this time...

And, as someone else mentioned, a lot of cases go unreported.

Cindy Hamilton

> Not that many, probably...
>
> Can you actually specify at US BK's, McDonalds that you want your burger
> rare?
>
> In the UK, they (the FSA) *demand* that burgers are only served well
> done.
>
> Or is it that UK beef not to be trusted?

"Cindy Hamilton" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]..
On Jul 17, 6:14 am, Andy <q> wrote:

> Plague in the US?!? What plague?!? No epidemic here that I know of.

Yersina pestis infections (usually contracted by contact with mouse
feces)
still occur, but with modern antibiotics we don't see epidemics of
it. IIRC
it's a problem mainly in the Southwest.

Cindy Hamilton

I think you might be confusing two diseases. The one that's usually
contracted from mouse droppings and mostly in the southwest is hantavirus.
The plague in the US is mainly in prairie dogs. The plagues, bubonic,
pneumonic and septicemic are usually transmitted by fleas.

Ms P

On Jul 17, 12:21*am, "st...@seatraveler.com" <SteveKram...@gmail.com>
wrote:
> On Jul 17, 12:11 pm, Sheldon <PENMAR...@aol.com> wrote:
>
>
>
> > .. it's actually far safer to eat fresh roadkill.
>
> As Larry said; " the 'Catch of the Day' on RT.89" * (Well, he actually
> said I-89 but our UK cousins wouldn't know that goes through Vermont.)
>
> If you hit and kill a deer while driving, the game wardens (who must
> be notified to remove the carcass) will often donate the deer (if the
> internal organs haven't been mauled) to a needy family. That can
> amount to 75-125lbs of fresh venison.... * Poor Bambi....


Here if you hit it you get to keep it but you do need to report it.

I suspect this has meant some increase in business for the autobody
shops but the venision is usually pretty tasty.

John Kane Kingston ON Canada

Andy <q> wrote:

>Plague in the US?!? What plague?!? No epidemic here that I know of.

There are about 15 human cases per year in the Western U.S., most
of which get officially reported resulting in an official
national average of about 10 cases per year.

Plague is endemic, or in some cases epidemic among some
wild animal populations. The last true human epidemic
was in southern California in the 1920's.

A typical transmission scenario is someone decides it'd
be cute to feed the squirrels running around their campsite.

During the Toxic Shock scare, some cases of plague in
women were mis-diagnosed as toxic shock, particularly
in places like Lake Tahoe where plague is prevalent but some
doctors decided there was a "cluster" of TSS among
women in Tahoe.

Steve

Scott <[email protected]> wrote:

>Sheldon wrote:

>I've been eating preground mystery meat almost everyday all my life and
>never gotten sick from it.

Sample bias. If you had died, you wouldn't be here to
post about it.

Steve