Medium-cooked minced-beef burgers are increasingly served in restaurants. The Finnish Food Authority recommends serving all minced meat products well done and not medium-cooked. When minced meat products such as burgers are served to children, they should always thoroughly cooked. If the customer specifically wants to order the burger medium cooked, the Finnish Food Authority recommends that the burger should be made from fresh and good-quality meat in the same way as a steak tartare.
Raw minced beef is a high-risk food because of the occurrence of the EHEC bacterium in it. When meat is minced, the bacteria from the surface of the meat are mixed everywhere in the minced meat. Several extensive food poisoning epidemics caused by EHEC bacterium and linked to poorly cooked minced meat burgers have occurred across the world. Ordinary minced meat, meaning the minced meat already minced by stores or industry, should not be used to prepare and serve raw or medium-cooked products. EHEC may cause bloody diarrhoea, necrotic intestinal inflammation and life-threatening renal damage especially to children and older people.
If the food premises insist on serving raw or medium-cooked minced meat products, the matters mentioned below should be taken into account in the own-check activities of the premises.
If burgers are served medium-cooked, special attention must be paid to the freshness and quality of the raw material. The safest way to prepare burgers from chopped or minced meat is to cut off the surface of a larger piece of meat just before serving and chop or mince the inside into steaks tartare. However, even minced meat prepared this way should not be stored for serving it later. Furthermore, it should be ensured that suitable facilities for the activity are available so that cross-contamination can be avoided.
Sampling and tests applicable to medium-cooked minced meat burgers
If the restaurant makes minced meat that is served to the customer raw or medium-cooked, it is recommended that the restaurant include in its sampling programme Salmonella and E. coli tests for the products and sampling of surface hygiene with regard to salmonella in accordance with the instructions of the Finnish Food Authority (Microbiological requirements for foodstuffs, application of Commission Regulation (EC) No 2073/2005, Annex 9). Furthermore, the Finnish Food Authority recommends that the examination of EHEC/STEC bacteria be included in the sampling programme, also for other serotypes than O157.
In Finland, STEC tests are carried out by local laboratories and the Finnish Food Authority in Helsinki. The samples are sent to the local laboratories and the Finnish Food Authority takes care of the possible further tests required by the method. The examining laboratory should be contacted before sending the samples. For more information about STEC tests, contact Saija Hallanvuo, Senior Researcher, Division of Food and Feed Microbiology, Finnish Food Authority, tel. +358 40 4893448.
If the restaurant uses ready-to-use minced meat to make the minced meat burgers, it should verify that the approved food premises manufacturing the minced meat conducts the tests referred to in the process hygiene criteria and their results are at least at a good level (Finnish Food Authority's instructions Microbiological requirements for foodstuffs, application of Commission Regulation (EC) No 2073/2005, Annex 1 C, point 2.1.6 Minced meat). Even the good quality of minced meat does not guarantee that pathogenic bacteria such as the EHEC bacterium cannot be found in it. However, the good quality shows that the establishment complies with good hygiene in its production practices, which reduces the risk of the bacteria entering the meat. It is also recommended that approved food establishments manufacturing minced meat also test their minced meat for the EHEC/STEC bacterium if it is sold to restaurants for preparing medium-cooked burgers.
More information: ruokahygienia@ruokavirasto.fi