Food Safety: Use food thermometer when cooking ground beef

( News Canada) - According to Health Canada, research shows that the colour of meat is not a reliable indicator that meat has reached a temperature high enough to destroy harmful bacteria such as E. coli O157:H7.

The only way to be sure a ground beef patty is cooked to a high enough temperature to destroy any harmful bacteria is to use a food thermometer.

Here are some tips on how to use a thermometer to test hamburgers:

• Towards the end of the cooking time, remove patties from the source of heat.
• Use a digital food thermometer to check that the internal temperature, the inside of the meat, has reached 71° C (160° F).
• Insert probe-type thermometers through the side of the patty until the tip reaches the centre.
• Be sure to wash the thermometer immediately after testing an undercooked patty, and before testing another patty.
• Oven-safe meat thermometers designed for testing whole poultry and roasts during cooking are not suitable for testing beef patties.
• At 71°C (160°F) a safely cooked ground beef patty may vary from slight pink to brown, depending on a variety of factors, such as whether the ground beef was fresh or frozen, or how it was thawed.

For more information on food safety visit the  Canadian Partnership for Consumer Food Safety Education website.