My father always tells me to cook a hamburger so it is well done so you can cook the feces out. Is that true?

Question

You know, so it is safe to eat. Cooking it so long that it kills all the traces of fecal matter.

And after he tells me that, I magically lose my appetite for some reason.

Answer 1

It should be throughly cooked to kill bacteria and parasites. Feces are not contained in the meat if it's handled properly in the processing plants.

Answer 2

I assume you are eating actual beef and not scraping 'cow pies' off the ground and forming them into some sort of burgers.

There is absolutely no fecal matter contained within ground beef used for eating. Beef producers do not include the bowel of the animal for processing steaks, ground beef, roasts, etc. If they did, you would have heard about this a long time ago.

I think your father just wants all of the burgers for himself.

What the cooking process does is to remove any traces of a bacteria known as 'E-Coli.' This bacteria is present in most ground beef and unless the beef is cooked well (not rare or medium rare), the E-Coli present can make you ill after ingesting the burger. For some reason, barbecuing burgers makes the bacteria even more substantial. It is believed this because when the fat drips into the coals of the barbecue, it bounces back into the burger and unless the meat is thoroughly cooked at a high temperature, you cannot remove the E-Coli.

One myth (which is exactly that, not true) is that E-Coli is only present in beef or ground beef. It can be found in any number of food items and can even be contracted from an open wound on the body. All kinds of bacteria enter wounds and E-Coli is one of them. Just recently, close to where I live in Canada, they found E-Coli present in certain kinds of spinach that was sold in stores and they had to recall the particular brand.

So, you can see that not only beef can be affected by bacteria.

Therefore, please feel free to have a well-cooked burger as there is no feces in the burger unless some idiot had his way with your beef before it reached the barbecue.

Answer 3

He is absolutely right.

There is a small chance in an abbatoir that the bowel will be nicked while it is being removed. This can lead to small traces of contamination on the surface of the meat. Small traces of bacteria can also get onto the surface of meat while it is being handled - it is almost unavoidable.

This is not really a problem for whole meat, because its surface is always cooked - it does not matter if it is rare, because there is no chance of the inside of a steak being contaminated.

But grinding beef mixes the surface material throughout, so the only safe way to cook ground beef is to ensure it is above 60C all the way through - which normally means there will be no pink left.

And BTW cooking has no impact on CJD (mad cow disease). This is caused by an aberrant surface protein called a prion, and not a virus or bacteria. Cooking does not destroy prions.

Answer 4

No, the feces will still be there - just burnt. Ha ha
After I posted, I read all the answers.
Your father is unfortuneately right. Not all meat and hamburger meat has been contaminated with fecal matter, some does. When the animals are being cut up, too often the bowels are ruptured and get on the rest of the pieces. Yuck, but there are many gross things that ppl don't realize, but they are alive just the same.

Answer 5

Most beef has e-coli (Coliform) only on it's surface which is killed almost as soon as it hits the pan. In fact most of it dies in-transit.
Because hamburger has been ground, any e-coli is mixed into the meat and can be lurking deep inside but again, not for long. If you just purchased fresh ground beef, then you might want to cook it well but for the most part, medium well will do quite nicely.

FYI- Coliform is found in vegetation more frequently than in meat in America. This is due to poor water management on the farm. Irrigation recycling methods in dry areas like California allow for a substantial build up of the bacteria in the water which is then sprayed over the crop.

As a rule, the only meat that requires complete cooking is poultry. this is due to the high instance of salmonella in the slaughter houses.

Answer 6

Well if you're eating beef that has feces in it, you got bigger problems than how to cook your burgers. Even if there are feces in your beef, your stomach acid is so strong it can eat through metal, I don;t think feces are gonna hurt you. Its the bacteria and e-coli you have to worry about.
BTW-a great recipe for burgers-1/2 cup of Worsteshire sauce and some some garlic powder(or fresh) and basil and oregeno with a little onion powder(or fresh). Grill em up or however you cook em and they'll be the most tastey burgers you ever had!

Answer 7

There's little chance of feces being in the meat. The meat would have to fall on the floor and not be cleaned off when it's put back on the hanger in the meat processing plant..

It probably happens occasionally but it gets sprayed off. It's not the feces you should be worried about. It's the micro-organisms such as E. Coli.

If you're that worried about it, just buy a good steak and ask them to grind it into hamburger. You'll know what is in it.

Answer 8

He's close ... but confused. You cook the beef thoroughly to kill bacteria. If you have some fecal matter in the burger, you can't cook it 'out', but you should throw the hamburger out ... it's unsafe to eat!

Answer 9

By cooking meat well you are killing all the bacteria and stuff. But bacteria is in us plus all the veggies you eat too.
There isn't anything totally pure of stuff.
That is why there is recalls on more fresh veggies than beef.
Your Dad sounds like he is teasing you though, but he is reminding you in avery graphic, way to cook things well.

Answer 10

Yes, it is true you should could a hamburger til there is no trace of blood and no pink. That isn't necessarily "well done". You don't eat it rare because of the "mad cow" disease and other bacterias. Not due to feces!