Have a sizzling and safe burger on National Burger Day

Thursday 24th August is National Burger Day and if you’re aiming to round off the summer holidays with a barbecue this weekend, Cheshire West and Chester Council has some good advice to help make it a safe success.

Gourmet burgers in restaurants remain popular and some people may be tempted to serve their guests burgers that are pink in the middle.  But a burger is not like steak.  Steak can be served rare because any contamination on the surface of the meat is destroyed when the steak is seared on the outside.

Burgers are made of minced meat, so any bacteria on the outside of the whole piece of meat are mixed up throughout the burgers when the meat is minced.  If bacteria are mixed into the middle of the burger and it isn’t cooked all the way through, the bacteria can survive and cause food poisoning. That’s why it should be thoroughly cooked right through whether it’s made from beef, pork, chicken, and any other meat used for burgers.

So, this weekend, and over the coming bank holiday weekend, with reasonable weather forecast, the Council’s food safety officers are reminding everybody to:

• cook burgers so they are steaming hot all the way through, no matter how good quality or expensive the meat
• check that none of it is pink and that any juices run clear, and
• avoid cross contamination by storing raw meat separately before cooking, using different utensils, plates and chopping boards for raw and cooked food.

The Council’s Cabinet Member for Homes, Planning and Safer Communities, Councillor Christine Warner said:

“It’s the little things like following this advice that can keep your loved ones safe.  Children, elderly and poorly people in your family could get food poisoning – a potentially life-threatening illness - through serving a less than well-cooked burger at your barbecue this weekend.  Enjoy National Burger Day safely and check that all your food is cooked all the way through.”

For general barbecue safety tips see the Foods Standards Agency website.