When meat is ground, much more of it is exposed to harmful bacteria. That's one reason to cook hamburger thoroughly. Don't depend solely on appearance. A hamburger patty can turn brown on the outside before it reaches a safe internal temperature of 160 degrees.
Other tips from the U.S. Department of Agriculture:
* Keep it cold. Buy hamburger just before you leave the store. Refrigerate or freeze when you get home.
* Store ground beef at 40 degrees or below and use within two days.
* Well-wrapped frozen hamburger will keep indefinitely, but is best if used within four months.
* Never put cooked hamburgers on the same plate that held raw patties or reuse the packaging materials.
* Don't partially cook ground beef to use later. This allows harmful bacteria to survive to the point where subsequent cooking may not destroy them.
Rick Good spent ten years in the newspaper business, including with The News & Observer (Raleigh, NC) and The Greenville News (Greenville, SC). He co-wrote, with Melinda Coleman, Rutledge to Riley: Governors of South Carolina, 1776–Present (Published by The Greenville News), and is the author of Mind Games Trivia #1 (Amazon). He has recently spent 15 years creating original trivia content through Sounds Good Mobile Entertainment and continues that with his new company, SGME Software. He edits The Smart Reader’s money, real estate, and business coverage.
