Can a beef and pork mix burger be served medium

food-safetykitchen-safety

I have seen many record state a burger can be served a little pink. Even 'medium'. I understand what this means.

My question is about food safety: Is this also safe if the patty was a mix of beef and pork?

I can use common sense and predict if there was only 1% pork, then it is probably safe, but assuming the meat comes from a supermarket and is a 50:50 mix, is it recommended to cook this well done?

Best Answer

In most developed countries trichinosis is extreme rare, this is due to changes in the way pigs are raised. In the US there were only 16 cases reported between 2011-2015, for example, and in Europe the rates are similar. This means that you could serve pork completely raw with extremely low risk from a trichinosis point of view.

In a 50/50 beef-pork burger you have an equal amount of risk from the beef as the pork due to e coli bacteria, the meat really doesn't matter. Safety guidelines are to cook ground meats of any kind to 70°C/160°F, which is well done. As to whether you follow that guideline is up to you, millions or people have their burgers pink in the middle and it's rare anyone gets sick so the risk is small, but it's still there. Whether you take that chance is personal choice.