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that cooking times of less than 3 min/ side would not produce a safely cooked product. Three package labels in the survey suggested cooking times of 1.5 to 2 min/side. For 20% fat patties on electric stove in a preheated pan, the longest total cooking time, 9 min 14 s, occurred at the medium-low setting. The shortest total cook time, 7 min, occurred at the medium-high setting, although this was not significantly different from the average of 7 min 39 s required at medium heat. Using a fry pan that is not preheated extends the cooking time by about 4 min (Table 3). For 20% fat patties on a preheated propane grill, the total cooking time required was 7 to 8 min (Table 2). The propane grill produced more variability in cook times than did a fry pan on the electric stove. Measurement of grill bar temperatures before cooking commenced showed variations of 40°C during repeated measurements due to the on-off cycling of the heat source. Variations in fry pan surface temperature were much lower, about 5°C. The variability of cooking times for patties, particularly when a propane grill is used, makes it difficult to accurately label cooking times. Under many cooking conditions, 4 or 5 min/side would be necessary to produce a safely cooked product. Although the effect of patty fat content on cooking time was not consistent, the 10% fat patties cooked more slowly than those containing 15% or 20% fat on the electric stove. Others have reported longer cooking times when fat level was decreased in ground beef patties (2, 13). In this work, five thermocouples were used to measure patty cooking temperature. All of the thermocouples did not reach the endpoint of 71.1°C at the same time (Table 2). In fact, after three thermocouples registered 71.1°C, an average of up to an additional min or more of cooking was required for thermocouples in all locations to register 71.1°C. Additionally, the lowest temperature is not always in the center of the patty, as has been previously observed (18). Although this work did not quantify postcooking temperature rise in the patties, this rise has been well documented (2) and amounts to about 2° to 5°C, depending on patty size and cooking method. This effect reduces the likelihood of an under- cooked patty resulting from measuring temperature in one location. This study reveals that cooking instructions on some packages of frozen ground beef patties are inadequate to produce a safely cooked patty. The wide variations in cooking times, particularly for grilled patties, confirm that the use of a thermometer is the preferred method for assessing endpoint when cooking frozen ground beef patties. Package instructions should strongly encourage consumers to use an instant-read thermometer to cook patties to 160°F and indicate that patties should be checked in several locations. If cooking times are suggested on package labels, they should be described as guidelines as to when to check the internal patty temperature. ACKNOWLEDGMENT This work was supported by Marler Clark, Attorneys at Law, L.L.P., P.S., Seattle, WA. REFERENCES 1. American Meat Institute. 2007. Grills to Sizzle Over Holiday Weekend, May 26. http://www.meatami. com/ht/d/ReleaseDetails/i/3023. 2. Berry, B. W., and M.E. BignerGeorge. 2000. Factors affecting color properties of beef patties cooked on an outdoor gas grill. J. Muscle Foods 11:213–226. 3. Cattleman’s Beef Board. 2008. “I’ll take a burger with a side of burger,” CBB Checkoff News, http://www. beefboard.org. Accessed July 11, 2008. 4. Cattlemen’s Beef Board & National Cattlemen’s Beef Association. 2008. Beef Retail Sales Data, http://www. beefretail.org/uDocs/refrigeratedandfrozencategorysales.pdf and Redson, B. A. personal communication, October 27, 2008. 5. CDC. 1993. Update: Multistate outbreak of Esc her ic hia coli O157:H7 infections from hamburgers — Western United States, 1992–1993, Morb. Mortal. Weekly Rep. 42(14):258–263. 6. CDC. 2002. Multistate outbreak of Escherichia coli O157:H7 infections associated with eating ground beef — United States, June–July 2002, Morb. Mortal. Weekly Rep. 51(29):637–639. 7. Cody, M. M., and M. A Hogue. 2003. Results of the home food safety—It’s in Your Hands 2002 survey: Comparison to the 1999 benchmark survey and Healthy People 2010 food safety behaviors objective. J. Am. Diet. Assoc. 103(9):1115–1125. 8. DeWaal, C. S., and F. Bhuiya. 2007. Outbreak Alert! Center for Science in the Public Interest, page 12, http://www.cspinet.org/foodsafety/ outbreak_alert.pdf. 9. Hague, M. A., K. E. Warren, M. C. Hunt, D. H. Kropf, C. L. Kastner, S. L. Stroda, and D. E. Johnson. 1994. Endpoint temperature, internal cooked color, and expressible juice color relationships in ground beef patties. J. Food Sci. 59(3):465–470. 10. Killinger, K. M., M. C. Hunt, R. E. Campbell, and D. H. Kropf. 2000. Factors affecting premature browning during cooking of store-purchased ground beef. J. Food Sci. 65(4):585–587. 11. Lando, A., and L. Verrill. 2008. 2006 FDA/FSIS Food Safety Survey, http:// www.cfsan.fda.gov/~comm/crnutri7.html. 12. Lange, L. 2008. Beef trim baseline results and how FSIS will use, presentation at E. coli public meeting, April 9, Washington, D.C., http:// www.fsis.usda.gov/PPT/Beef_Trim_ Baseline_040908.ppt. Accessed October 8, 2008. 13. Lui, M. N., and B. W. Berry. 1996. Variability in color, cooking times and internal temperature of beef patties under controlled cooking conditions. J. Food Prot. 59(9):969–975. 14. Lyon, B. G., B. W. Berry, D. Soderberg, and N. Clinch. 2000. Visual color and doneness indicators and the incidence of premature brown color in beef patties cooked to four end point temperatures. J. Food Prot. 63(10):1389–1398. 15. McCurdy, S. M., M. T. Takeuchi, Z. Edwards, M. Edlefsen, D-H. Kang, V. E. Mayes, and V. N. Hillers. 2006. Food safety education initiative to increase consumer use of food thermometers in the United States. Brit. Food J. 108:775–794. 16. Ralston, K. L., and Lin, C. T. J. 2001. US Safe Handling Labels for Meat and Poultry: A Case Study in Information Policy. Consumer Interests Annual, Volume 47, http:// 340 FOOD PROTECTION TRENDS | JUNE 2009

http://www.cspinet.org/foodsafety/outbreak_alert.pdf http://www.cspinet.org/foodsafety/outbreak_alert.pdf http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~comm/crnutri7.html http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~comm/crnutri7.html http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~comm/crnutri7.html http://www.meatami.com/ht/d/ReleaseDetails/i/3023 http://www.meatami.com/ht/d/ReleaseDetails/i/3023 http://www.fsis.usda.gov/PPT/Beef_Trim_Baseline_040908.ppt http://www.fsis.usda.gov/PPT/Beef_Trim_Baseline_040908.ppt http://www.fsis.usda.gov/PPT/Beef_Trim_Baseline_040908.ppt http://www.beefboard.org http://www.beefboard.org http://www.beefretail.org/uDocs/refrigeratedandfrozencategorysales.pdf http://www.beefretail.org/uDocs/refrigeratedandfrozencategorysales.pdf http://www.beefretail.org/uDocs/refrigeratedandfrozencategorysales.pdf http://www.fsis.usda.gov/PPT/Beef_Trim_Baseline_040908.ppt

Food Protection Trends - June 2009

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