why is it dangerous to "under cook" hamburger?

Question

you can cook whole cuts of beef rare, so why not hamburger?

Answer 1

It is the cooking that kills the "e coli" bacteria that causes what is called hamburger disease. The reason why it is more prevalent in hmaburger is:

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Hamburger disease is caused by a specific type of bacteria called E.coli 0157:H7. E.coli live in the intestines of cattle, and can be transferred to the outer surface of meat when an animal is butchered. The process of grinding can then spread the bacteria throughout the meat. You can not tell the difference between contaminated or non-contaminated ground beef by the way it looks, smells, or tastes.
-----------(Source: http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/iyh-vsv/food-aliment/meat-viande_e.html)

Answer 2

every cut surface has the potential to carry bacteria, so all cut surfaces should be well cooked. A hamburger has cut surfaces all through and needs to be cooked all through.

It used to be recommended that pork should be cooked well through (for all I know it may still be recommended). There were rare instances when the pork carried parasitical worms that could be dangerous to humans. these burrowed into the flesh of the animal so the insides of joints could be dangerous.

Sorry if this upsets the squeamish - it's just information.

Answer 3

Because the whole cuts of beef have only their surfaces exposed to germs and they are killed when the surface is cooked, but since a hamburger meat has been ground, it is all liable to carry salmonella and worse which won't be killed if the middle is not cooked.

It is a sad state of affairs

Answer 4

you have heard of ecoli? right it is caused by fecal bacteria in meat...
there is no real way to guarantee that it is not present in ground meat, because they uses the parts of a cow that may have come from anywhere on that cow.. and who is to say that it actually didn't come from one cow.. it may have come from varied animals too

well hamburger being that it is ground... into small pieces..leaves a chance that every side of every piece of that ground meat may or may not be contaminated with some sort of bacteria...
as for a steak which has a top , a bottom and the sides... cook them well on the outside you kill the bacteria..leaving the inside rare if you like... the bacteria doesn't penetrate.. it just sits on the meat
ground meat has tons of sides of every little chopped piece.. leaving more and more opportunity for contamination to take place all the way through

and to make sure the bacteria is dead it has to be cooked all the way through...

Answer 5

Hamburger meat, aka ground beef, has a much larger surface area than solid whole cuts, and is much more prone to the danger of e.coli bacteria on it. So, undercooking it leads to a greater chance of e.coli contaminants still being dangerous if ingested.

Answer 6

Because blades and metal parts in the processing plant touch ALL of the hamburger meat when it is being ground and mixed. "Cuts" of meat are only touch by the metal machine parts on their cut surfaces. If there is any contamination on the metal machine parts it is all through the hamburger meat, whereas it would be only on the surface of the "cuts".

Answer 7

E coli
is on all meat cuts
when you cook a steak
they are all on the top of the steak about 1/8 on a incn of the steak when you cook the steak you kill the e coli from the heat with burgers and it is not cooked in the middle you are eating live e coli. it has not been killed the heat has hot gotten to it.

and that's the whole shabangybang

Answer 8

!st thing 1st, the cut of beef is fresh, not frozen, and if you seen frozen hard beef, you won't be buying that for a steak, i can assure you , or the butcher will not suggest you to eat it undercooked. 2nd , who knows what is the beautiful world they add into the patties, and how long they have kept it , do you know patties are shipped, they freeze , thaw , freeze , thaw , i don't know how many blinking times, and that will really induce a LOT (hell lot) of known ( and unknown) germs and what-else-have-you , best thing is to really cook it throughly, beside it taste better well done. So, why not.

Answer 9

All meat which is undercooked runs the risk of containing bacteria and harmful organisms which would otherwise have been killed had the meat been cooked more thoroughly.

Answer 10

because ground beef is of a lower grade, combine that with the fact that America has the loosest beef regulations of any first world country that spells sick