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Food Safety Works Colorado State University Extension
SafeFood Rapid Response Network

SAFEFOOD NEWS - Fall 1997 - Vol 2 no 1

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On the Hamburger Grill: Not by Color Alone

Color vs. Temperature, choose your weapon of choice. Consumers must continue to be educated to the reality that despite attention to keeping food safe at all the Critical Control Points from production through processing, it is possible to purchase uncooked hamburger which may contain E. coli 0157:H7.

The question being debated at this point, however, is can we continue to tell consumers that if they cook their hamburger until they're brown or no longer pink, they've reached an internal temperature high enough to kill the E. coli bacteria. The answer unfortunately is "No" so much so that the USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service withdrew all their fact sheets mentioning visual clues to doneness this summer.

On June 10, 1997, the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service released a statement advising consumers to use a meat thermometer to test the internal temperature of hamburgers to ensure that they reach an internal temperature of 160 degrees F, the temperature adequate to kill pathogenic bacteria. Note: this statement is a departure from USDA's previous recommendation to determine adequate cooking by checking the internal color of a burger patty.

USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service said that color is no longer considered a reliable indicator of ground beef safety. The emphasis on using a meat thermometer results from research that indicates some ground meat may turn prematurely brown before a safe internal temperature has been reached. Premature browning is related to the myoglobin oxidative state at the time of cooking. Further, while some ground beef patties turn prematurely brown, others remain pink at temperatures above 160 F.

Even though the consumer is being educated about the use of a thermometer vs. the use of visual cues, consumer preference may have the final word. CDC presented some new data from the 1996 FOODNET which showed that 27% of 8,500 people surveyed preferred "pink" burgers and 11% of those eating hamburgers ate them pink. The question will be if increased knowledge will shift consumer preference.

Consumer tips for thermometer use are available through the USDA's meat and poultry hotline: 1- 800-535-4555; and on the FSIS website: http://www.usda.gov/fsis

Sources: Adapted from Resource - University of Missouri Extension, May/June, 1997. Liu, et al., 1996, Journal of Food Protection, 59 (9) 969-975. Van Laack, et al., 1996, Journal of Food Protection, 59 (9) 976-983.

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Updated Monday, August 29, 2011