The Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has conducted a longstanding consumer education program on safe cooking and handling of meat and poultry. Proper food safety practices prevent situations that promote bacterial growth, cross-contamination, and foodborne illness. Thorough cooking destroys bacteria.
FSIS has long advised consumers to use a food thermometer when cooking meat and poultry to ensure that a temperature sufficient to destroy bacteria has been reached. In June 1997 FSIS expanded this recommendation to include ground beef patties. Pathogens (including Salmonella and Escherichia coli O157:H7) die when exposed to heat for a specific amount of time. Cook all raw ground beef to an internal temperature of 160 °F as measured with a food thermometer.
E. coli O157:H7 is a strain of bacteria that produces a toxin that can cause hemorrhagic colitis. This illness can develop into an extremely serious condition known as hemolytic uremic syndrome, which can cause kidney failure, brain damage, strokes, and seizures in young children and the elderly. E. coli O157:H7 has caused numerous sporadic cases as well as outbreaks of foodborne disease resulting in illnesses and deaths. This pathogen can survive both refrigerator and freezer storage. A number of E. coli O157:H7 outbreaks recorded since 1982 have been linked to undercooked ground beef as the primary source of infection.
The 1993 Western states outbreak of E. coli O157:H7 attributed to undercooked hamburgers served at a fast-food chain was a turning point. The outbreak sickened hundreds and was responsible for four deaths. While it was not the first outbreak of foodborne illness that the United States had experienced, it was a particularly difficult one for the public to accept; many young children became ill, and the food source was the traditional American hamburger.
