A food handler failed to cook hamburger patties to the correct

Q: When cooking a hamburger What hazard is most likely to occur?

And you really want to make sure your burger is cooked properly. Ground beef has been linked to foodborne illnesses caused by Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC) and Salmonella, while ground turkey and chicken have been linked to Salmonella and Campylobacter. 2) Temperature Rules.

Q: What is the maximum number of hours that pizza can be held?

Monitor hold time: Monitor labeling on the pizza to ensure it is discarded promptly when the 4-hour limit has been reached. Any pizzas that are not labeled must be discarded.

Q: Which item is a food handler permitted to wear on hands and arms Servsafe?

Wash your hands often and wear gloves. No other items are allowed, including medical alert bracelets, rings with jagged edges (like diamond rings), bracelets, and watches. Any jewelry thats not worn on your hands or arms — such as earrings, necklaces, or facial jewelry — are technically allowed under the Food Code.

Q: Which foodborne illness is most often caused by incorrectly canned food?

Improperly canned, preserved, or fermented foods can provide the right conditions for the bacteria to make the toxin. You cannot see, smell, or taste the toxin, but taking even a small taste of food containing it can be deadly. Botulism is a medical emergency.

Índice Show

Introduction
Section snippets
Phase 1: telephone survey
Telephone survey
Food handlers' knowledge on food safety
CRediT authorship contribution statement
Acknowledgements
Cited by (0)
Recommended articles (0)
When cooking a hamburger What hazard is most likely to occur?
What is the maximum number of hours that pizza can be held?
Which item is a food handler permitted to wear on hands and arms Servsafe?
Which foodborne illness is most often caused by incorrectly canned food?

Access through your institution

Abstract

“Gourmet-style” burger restaurants have become increasingly popular in Hong Kong in recent years. These restaurants' practice of undercooking beef patties for desired juiciness may result in foodborne illness. This study examined food handlers' knowledge, attitudes, and practices regarding beef burger preparation at food premises using a two-phase mixed methods approach. The Health Belief Model (HBM) was applied to examine food handlers' perceptions of risk, severity, barriers, and benefits associated with cooking burgers thoroughly. The telephone survey (n = 1025) showed that higher-priced beef burger restaurants were more likely to serve undercooked burgers (p < 0.00001). Face-to-face interviews and observations of restaurants that served undercooked burgers (n = 24) found that most food handlers were unfamiliar with the safe internal temperature-time combinations and did not use a thermometer to verify doneness. Around 17% of the reportedly well done burgers were undercooked, posing an uninformed risk to consumers who ate undercooked burgers without being told beforehand. The HBM analysis revealed that food handlers were not keen on cooking burger thoroughly. Despite the lack of knowledge (e.g., not knowing the risk of eating undercooked minced meat) and high-risk practices (e.g., thawing frozen meat at room temperature) found among some food handlers, they were confident in their ability to properly prepare food. This study suggests that efforts should be made to promote safe food handling practices and stress the importance of using thermometers for food handlers.

Introduction

Undercooked minced beef has long been a source of foodborne illnesses, with multiple Shiga-toxin producing Escherichia coli (STEC) infection outbreaks reported in various locations during the last two decades (Berkelman et al., 1994; CDC, 2019; Doyle et al., 2006). According to the statistics on infectious diseases of the Centre for Health Protection of Hong Kong from 2017 to 2021, there were a total of 14 cases of STEC infection in Hong Kong (CHP, 2022). Although the figure was not exceptionally high, it should not be overlooked as foodborne illness induced by STEC can be serious, especially for susceptible individuals such as pregnant women, young children, the elderly, and people with a weakened immune system. Additionally, the number is likely to be underreported as not everyone gets sick from eating contaminated food, and even if they do, they might not seek medical attention or report the incident to the authorities.

While fast food burger outlets have long existed in Hong Kong, the sector has recently seen a rush of new competitors, both multinational and local, providing “gourmet burgers”. In other nations, such as the United Kingdom (Mintel, 2016) and Australia (NSW DPI (The New South Wales Department of Primary Industries), 2016), undercooked food consumption is becoming more common, while eating undercooked burgers in table-service restaurants has been linked to STEC infection in the United States (Bogard, 2013). According to an online survey conducted by the Centre for Food Safety in Hong Kong in 2020, 39% of 96 respondents believed it was safe to eat undercooked beef burgers, and about half of them had consumed raw or undercooked food within the month prior to the survey (CFS, 2021). The surface of meat can be contaminated by harmful bacteria such as Salmonella and pathogenic E. coli. during slaughtering and handling. For a steak which is an intact cut of beef, the inside usually does not contain bacteria. Searing the outside surface of the steak can kill the surface bacteria. However, when meat is minced to produce burger patties, any harmful bacteria present on the surface of the raw meat will be spread throughout the patty. Unless the burger patty is cooked right through, these bacteria can remain alive on the inside (ACMSF, 2017). Furthermore, eating undercooked meat can increase the risk of contracting antimicrobial resistance (AMR) microorganisms (Ritter et al., 2019). Whether or not AMR microorganisms cause acute symptoms, they may transfer their antimicrobial resistance genes to other bacteria inside the human body, hampering the effectiveness of antibiotics when it is needed in the future (Djordjevic, Stokes, & Chowdhury, 2013; Fletcher, 2015; Skippington & Ragan, 2011). The emerging predilection for undercooked burgers may pose new health risks to the public.

To kill pathogen potentially present in raw meat, cooking it thoroughly is of utmost importance. The Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD) of Hong Kong has made reference to international food safety authorities (ACMSF, 2017; WHO, 2006) and stated in its Food Hygiene Code that when raw animal food (e.g., poultry, pork, minced meat) is cooked, the centre of the food should reach a temperature of at least 75 °C for 30 s, or an effective time-temperature combination (e.g. 65 °C for 10 min, 70 °C for 2 min) (FEHD, 2021) should be followed. However, it is not known whether food business operators (FBOs) and food handlers are following the safe temperature requirement. Education in safe food handling is a key measure for the prevention of foodborne illnesses and containing the spread of AMR bacteria (WHO, 2015). The World Health Organization built the Five Keys to Safer Food (5 Keys) Programme to the promotion of safe food handling (WHO, 2006). The 5 keys adopted in Hong Kong are “choose safe raw materials”, “keep hands and utensils clean”, “separate raw and cooked food”, “cook thoroughly”, and “keep food at safe temperature” which have been promoted among local food handlers and consumers (CFS, 2018).

The objective of this study was to explore food handlers' food safety knowledge including understanding on the 5 keys as well as attitudes and practices related to burger preparation. The findings will be used to assist in the development of effective food safety instructional techniques targeted at enhancing food safety awareness with the ultimate aim of promoting safer burger preparation among FBOs and food handlers.

Section snippets

Phase 1: telephone survey

From March to May 2021, a telephone survey of vendors selling burgers was undertaken to determine how they responded to consumer requests for undercooked patties. Respondents to the calls were asked according to a script if they would cook according to an order of a burger was less than thoroughly cooked, such as medium (commonly described as “50% done” by local people, which means the meat is pink inside), while research personnel observed whether the FBOs would accept or decline such a

Telephone survey

About 58%(591) of restaurants in the telephone survey served fully cooked burgers only, while the remaining 42%(434) offered undercooked burgers as an option. A comparisons of how common the practice of serving undercooked burgers was among restaurants with different meal prices (less than HK$50, HK$51–100, HK$101–200, and more than HK$200 per head) was made. To avoid over-representation of the entity, chain establishments offering burgers in the same price range were only counted once, and the

Food handlers' knowledge on food safety

Many participants were unfamiliar with the 5 Keys and the microbiological risks of undercooking, and some participants even mistook foodborne illnesses caused by bacteria in undercooked meat for a food allergy. Only about half of the participants had heard of E. coli. and most participants had never heard of AMR bacteria. One-third of the participants did not realize that burger patties were of higher risk than steaks. Inadequate awareness of the link between undercooked beef and STEC among

Conclusion

To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first study in Asia to use the HBM in conjunction with quantitative methods to explore local food handlers' knowledge, attitudes and practices. It provided insight into developing risk communication strategies to respond to both food handlers and the general public. The majority of the food handlers in the study appeared to lack adequate food safety knowledge, especially when it came to the microbiological risk of undercooked meat. Some of

CRediT authorship contribution statement

Jerry C.Y. Mang: Conceptualization, Methodology, Writing – review & editing. Melva Y.Y. Chen: Investigation, Formal analysis, Writing – review & editing. Cherelle S.W. Ho: Formal analysis, Writing – review & editing. Henry C.C. Ng: Supervision, Writing – review & editing. Samuel T.K. Yeung: Supervision, Writing – review & editing.

Acknowledgements

The authors thank William C.K., So, Bibiana P.H. Yuen, Amy K.W. Cheng, and David H.K. Au-Yeung from the Centre for Food Safety for assisting in the collection of data and all restaurant owners and food handlers who participated in this study.