Ground beef is a known source of several food-borne illnesses including E. Coli, Salmonella, and Staph infections. While usually not fatal, they all can cause illness with stomach pain, nausea, diarrhea, fever, and headache. Some, like E. Coli 0157:H7, can cause severe illness with bloody diarrhea, colitis, and in small children, sometimes death. At least 300 people were stricken with E. Coli in the western United States during January of 1993.
These illnesses are caused by bacteria.The more bacteria present, the greater the chance and severity of the illness.Bacteria reproduce by dividing themselves into two. They generally reproduce every twenty (20) minutes. Due to this fast reproduction, one thousand bacteria can multiply to four million in approximately four hours.Bacteria need temperatures between 45 F and 140 F to grow rapidly. If you can control the temperatures, you can control the population growth on the bacteria, thus making your food safer.
Another way to prevent food-borne illnesses is to keep the bacteria from contaminating other foods.This is called cross-contamination.For example, raw ground beef is made into patties on a cutting board; then a sandwich is cut on the same cutting board which was not washed and sanitized. The sandwich will absorb any bacteria left on the cutting board. The sandwich may now be contaminated and possibly will make you or someone else ill.
The best way to prevent illness is to take precautions which will help control bacterial growth and contamination:
- Refrigerate fresh ground beef at 40 F or lower.
- Never let ground beef stand out at room temperature. Bacteria reproduce rapidly at these temperatures.
- Do not thaw frozen ground beef at room temperatures. Some areas of the beef will thaw more quickly than other parts, causing bacterial growth. Thaw the ground beef in a refrigerator, under cool running water (70-75 F), or in a microwave oven. If you use themicrowave, use the meat immediately.
- Cook ground beef to an internal temperature of 155 F. There should be no pink left, and the juices should run clear. This will kill any bacteria present.
- Whenever you handle raw ground beef, immediately wash your hands with soap and warm water. This will prevent your hands from transferring bacteria onto other foods or utensils.
- After handling raw ground beef, immediately wash and sanitize every utensil or implement which came in contact with the beef (knives, forks, cutting boards, etc.).
- Always assume that there are bacteria in the ground beef. While this may not be a fact, it will remind you that there is cause for concern when it comes to proper food handling.