Over five million Brits are at risk of food poisoning from pink burgers at barbecues, according to research by the Food Standards’ Agency (FSA).
The research revealed that over a third (36%) of Brits would eat a burger that isn’t fully cooked through, despite 71% stating concerns about food poisoning.
More than one in ten of the 2,708 adults surveyed said that they in fact prefer undercooked burgers and when cooking at home 81% of those asked admitted to undercooking them.
“It’s important that people realise that burgers are not like steak,” Steve Wearne, director of policy at the FSA, commented.
According to the research nearly a third (32%) of all Britons incorrectly believe that eating a rare burger is the same as a rare steak when it comes to food poisoning risk.
“Harmful bacteria can be carried on the surface of cuts of meat. When a rare steak is seared these bacteria are killed, but burger meat is minced so bacteria from the surface of the raw meat gets mixed all the way through the burger,” Wearne warned. “These bacteria can remain alive on the inside, unless the burger is fully cooked through, no matter how good quality and expensive the meat.”
The FSA has teamed up with ex-British rugby player and MasterChef winner, Phil Vickery, to raise awareness about best burger practice amongst consumers.
This story was originally published on a previous version of the Meat Management website and so there may be some missing images and formatting issues.
