Advisory Against Eating Raw Ground Beef
With the Holidays come traditions and traditions often involve food
preparation practices that have been “in the family” for years. One of those
traditional foods, believed to be brought over by our European ancestors, is
steak tartare. Steak tartare is raw steak that is chopped and seasoned and
presented with accompaniments such as
onion, parsley, and capers, often with a
raw egg yolk as a finishing touch. This raw
steak dish is often served on crackers or
slices of bread.
The Centers for Disease Control advises
that eating raw beef and raw egg is
hazardous to your health. E. coli is
associated with eating raw beef, and
salmonella is associated with eating either
raw beef or raw eggs. Symptoms of
salmonella and E. coli include abdominal
cramps, diarrhea (often bloody), vomiting,
fever, chills, nausea, headache, and
swollen lymph nodes. These symptoms usually appear within 6-48 hours
after eating a food contaminated with E. coli or salmonella and can last for
days. Illness can be severe, and even life threatening to a child, an elderly
person or a person with a compromised immune system.
The Washington County Health Department strongly recommends that
you avoid eating raw or rare ground beef of any kind. Even though
ground beef may be inspected by the USDA, warning labels on the package
state that all ground beef should be cooked to a temperature of 160 degrees
F prior to eating.
If you wish to know more about handling raw ground beef, the U.S.
Department of Agriculture (USDA) has excellent information on their website
at:
http://www.fsis.usda.gov/Fact_Sheets/ground_beef_and_food_safety/index.
asp
If you cannot access this information by internet, you can call the USDA
Meat and Poultry Hotline at 1-888-MPHotline (1-888-674-6854) or you can
call the Health Department at 262-335-4462.