DESPITE a succession of food poisoning incidents linked to the deadly
bacterium Escherichia coli 0157:H7, many beefburgers on sale in British
supermarkets do not include standard instructions for safe cooking, as
recommended last June by government food safety advisers.
Norman Simmons, an honorary consultant in microbiology at Guy鈥檚 Hospital in
London and a member of the government鈥檚 Advisory Committee on the
Microbiological Safety of Food, visited several supermarkets and examined the
cooking instructions on 21 brands of frozen burger.
Simmons checked the cooking instructions against those recommended by the
microbiological safety committee to avoid E. coli poisoning. Only 6 of
the products mentioned that burgers should be cooked until they reach a core
temperature of 70 掳C and for at least a further two minutes, or until all of the
pink meat has turned brown. 鈥淚n general, with pure beef, if you heat it at 70 掳C
for two minutes, all the pink disappears,鈥� says Simmons. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a colour safety
indicator in every beefburger.鈥�
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Simmons followed the instructions that had failed to comply with the
recommendations, and found that some burgers remained partially cooked. The
inadequate instructions included such phrases as 鈥渃ook till piping hot鈥�.
He presented his findings to the microbiological committee in late January.
鈥淭he committee is communicating the results to major retailers and telling them
of its disappointment,鈥� Simmons says.
The British Retail Consortium, which represents major supermarkets, says that
its members are in the process of changing the labels on their products.
The survey coincides with the introduction of new food safety measures in
Britain and the US, which have both experienced fatal outbreaks of E.
coli poisoning. In Britain, agriculture minister Douglas Hogg last week
promised to appoint an independent Food Safety Council that will be free to make
public statements and recommendations. Meanwhile, President Bill Clinton
announced the creation of a new early warning system to spot emerging food
poisoning outbreaks.