I took my son to a restaurant today for lunch - the restaurant is part of a chain, but with table service, and usually very good food. I thought my burger was well done. When it came to the table I cut off a piece for my son to eat and put it on his plate. After I had eaten quite a bit and my son had almost finished his portion of burger, I noticed that some of the meat, including the tiny bite that was left on his plate, had some light pink in it. Most of it was grey, but there were definitely some pink spots. Now I am starting to feel a little concerned. Should I be worried?
Thanks for all the great responses. I felt so relieved after reading them. I did not get offended by anyone's answer. I know I am OCD about food handling and preparation, and my family jokes about it all the time. I throw food away if it is a few seconds past the expiration date, and the meat thermometer is my favorite kitchen tool. My son is fine, although I did get nervous when he had diarrhea once last night. The Mayo Clinic website said Ecoli can take up to 8 days to develop, although that seems long to me for a nine year old. He is still okay - he has a pretty heavy cold, and will sometimes have a loose bowel movement when he has an upper respiratory bug. You can bet that next time we eat out I will be inspecting our burgers!
When I order beef, I ask for them to walk the cow through the kitchen, and that's about how cooked I want it. Seriously, I'd eat it raw if they'd bring it that way. Anyway, even eating beef as rare as they'll bring it, I have never, ever had a problem.
perfectly fine. most people order their beef medium or medium well because they don't want it overcooked and dry. Beef is not like chicken. It doesn't have to be well done in order to be safe to eat.
No, other than McDonalds I never have a well done hamburger. Gross, nothing personal but I like a bit of pink in my burgers. :)
My point, my kids eat what I eat and no one has every got sick from a hamburger than was less than cremated.
Now if you were at McDonalds that would be gross in the other direction, that psudo meat needs to be cremated.
Are you aware that hundreds of millions of people everyday around the globe order their chain restaurant hamburgers medium rare, or even rare? Including me and every member of my family.
I think you and your kids are fine.
Jeesh.
:)
It's fine. It was not RAW meat.
I don't think you have anything to worry about.
Nothing at all to worry about. Pink is fine.
Dawn
Just light pink spots, generally means it was cooked to the requirements of killing bacteria. I was always told that any kind of food related illness will hit you within 6 hours. If he is fine now, he will likely not be affected.
I like my burgers rare, and would get sick having to eat one that is grey all the way, yuk! I think he will be fine. Not all beef is contaminated, we just tend to hear about the really bad cases and usually they trace those back to mishandling of the meat after it has been slaughtered. So enjoy that rare burger, it is much juicer than well done and tastes soooo much better.
I understand your concern....
Most of the time, it is ok to have ground beef (like in a hamburger) a little pink, but to be safe, it is best for it to be thoroughly cooked.
The difference between a medium steak and a medium burger is this basic point....
A medium steak, while pink inside, is usually perfectly safe. Bacteria haven't gotten to the inside of the steak. Hamburger, however, since it is ground up meat, may have bacterial contamination from the grinding process, etc. It is safer to eat hamburgers that are thoroughly cooked. If this happens, it is well within your rights as a consumer to send it back to the kitchen and have it cooked thoroughly. (I realize you didn't see it until after you had eaten.)
At this point, I wouldn't worry about your son... most likely he will be ok.
sounds medium well. and sounds fine to me. I like mine Medium so that's a little over done for me.
It's ok, gees. He will be fine.
We order our burgers medium rare.. Can't stand a burnt burger. We've never been sick. We eat steaks at medium to medium rare.
We also buy all our beef from a quality top notch butcher ( hubby grosses me out because he'll eat a few bites of the ground beef raw) but we buy high end products.
Yes, at a restaurant you take a chance ordering medium or medium rare but most will not serve you unless its a certain temp.
Your baby will be fine, a little pink beef is not going to hurt him.
There are bigger things to worry about!
Heat has touched it for some part to be grey and other part to be pink. It was just not cooked thru well enough. I wouldn't say that is exactly raw, just uncooked. It should be ok.
What Malia said is accurate. The issue is that kids are very susceptible to certain forms of E. coli that can (rarely) induce severe disease - hemolytic uremic syndrome that can cause kidney failure and even death. Remember the Jack in the Box scare - it was pretty much all kids who got sick and died. It is thought that adults at some point lose the molecular receptors (vero receptors I think) that result in this form of disease so it becomes less common. Of course we can all get regular old food poisoning - gastrointestinal distress, etc.
So rare to well done is usually just fine for adults, but for burgers (where the surface contamination can be mixed into the center of the meat), only well done is safe.
Realistically, severe E coli O157 infection is rare and severe disease and death are really rare (~ 3 people a year between 2000 and 2006) so there is likely no need to worry at this point since there is nothing you can do. If your son were to get sick, of course you would seek medical attention immediately.
He is fine, I'm sure. But as a rule, I would make sure ground beef is thoroughly cooked before serving it to a child.
Sorry you received condescending replies!
Probably not, but that is why I always ask for well done or medium well.
Nah...even though I, too, prefer my burgers NON pink and order them VERY well when I'm out, lots of people prefer them a bit pink. O. poster was correct that beef is not like pork or chicken & it's OK (i.e. safe) to be a bit "uncooked" (pink).
