Food Safety Expert: Never Eat Undercooked Meat

Perhaps no one has a stronger faith in the U.S. food supply and inspection system than Jean Weese.

Weese, an Alabama Cooperative Extension System food safety specialist and Auburn University professor of nutrition and food science, never hesitates in describing the U.S. food supply as the safest in the world.

But she says that’s no excuse not to err on the side of caution, especially when any raw food product is involved.

The recent U.S. beef recall, the fifth-largest in the nation’s history, only underscores that fact, Weese says.

“The thing consumers need to remember is that there’s a possibility of contamination with any raw product,” she says. “If we tested everything for the presence of bacteria, we probably would never buy contaminated products ever again.”

Fortunately for consumers, Weese says, there is an adequate safeguard — cooking.

“If you cook ground beef to 160 degrees Fahrenheit, which is the U.S. Department of Agriculture recommendation for raw ground beef, any E.coli pathogens on or within the meat will die,” she says. “You’re not going to have a problem with it.”

In fact, any raw meat product — chicken, pork or meat — will be safe, so long as it’s cooked to the right internal temperature, she says, adding that it’s really as simple as that in terms of food preparation in the home.

Otherwise, the only way to guarantee that any raw meat product is safe is either by cooking or irradiating it at the processing plant before it’s sold, she says.

“If we precooked or irradiated it, we wouldn't have to worry about E.coli and many other food pathogens.”

Of course, most American consumers aren’t willing to forego the simple pleasures of preparing and cooking raw meat to conform with their own preferences, which, Weese says, is all the more reason why consumers should be take special care with cooking.

One other simple, but essential, rule of thumb around the home is avoiding cross contamination.

“When you’re dealing with raw meat, always wash your hands thoroughly before you move onto the next food item,” Weese says, stressing that countertops where raw meat previously has been placed also should be thoroughly cleaned.

She says the same advice also applies when dining, she says.

“It still amazes me that people will go into a restaurant and order a hamburger that is not well done,” she says. “I see it over and over again.”

“When any server asks you how you want your hamburger cooked, you shouldn’t respond with anything other than well done,” she says, adding that “just because a restaurant or restaurant chain has a good reputation doesn’t mean that any undercooked meat will be any safer.”

In fact, the recent recall involved frozen meat that was distributed to retail grocery stores and food service institutions throughout the United States.

“That E.coli was in that frozen hamburger when it arrived at those stores and those food service facilities, which means that unless it’s cooked to an internal temperature of 160 degrees, it’s unsafe.”

The recent recall involved 21.7 million pounds of ground beef manufactured by Topps Meat Company LLC after it was discovered that some of the beef could contain E. coli.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture suspended the raw processed meat operations of Topps on Sept. 26 after an initial recall of 331,582 pounds of frozen ground beef products.

Posted by Jim Langcuster at October 3, 2007 01:37 PM