Ground steak can be eaten raw, in tartar or cooked. For young children, especially those under 3 years of age (and as a precautionary measure up to 15 years of age), people over 65 years of age and pregnant women, who are considered sensitive populations, it is recommended by the health authorities to thoroughly cook ground beef, whether it is frozen or fresh (also called refrigerated). For other consumers, it can be served "rare", "medium" or "well done" depending on individual tastes.

Cooking "Rare" ground steak

Achieving the "cooked through" degree for the minced steak means reaching a core temperature of at least +70°C: after cooking, the inside should be greyish-brown and under no circumstances still red or pinkish. This grey-brown colour indicates that the core protein has been cooked, which also helps to destroy any bacteria that may be present, such as Escherichia coli (2) or salmonella. If it is "well cooked through", the burger can then be eaten by everyone.

Cooking ground beef "medium rare".

For example, on the grill (+ 260°C), a 100 gram frozen burger will be "well done" after 13 minutes of cooking with 3 successive turns at regular time intervals. Under the same conditions, a fresh, or thawed, burger will be "well done" after 8 minutes of cooking.

Cooking minced steak "well done through".

Preserve the burger

Upstream, professionals in the meat industry implement a large number of preventive measures in terms of hygiene and microbiological safety (3) (e.g. respect for the cold chain, cleaning and disinfection of equipment, etc.). In turn, the consumer must adopt simple but essential hygiene rules from the purchase of the minced steak to its preparation, through its conservation.