Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 17, 1993 TAG: 9302170025
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RUTH FANTASIA LANDMARK NEWS SERVICE
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Long
BEST MAKE THAT BURGER WELL-DONE
My daughter, Melissa, may never eat hamburger again.Melissa won't eat a burger unless it's pink in the middle and, until now, neither would I. But the recent outbreak of E. coli illnesses in and around Washington state even has "the-redder-the-better" Ruth wary.
I'm not an alarmist. I probably cook more poultry than Frank Perdue, even though salmonella was the hot topic a few years back. And I still eat grapes, apples, melons and mayonnaise and all the other foods that have shown up tainted or painted with pesticides. But then, children weren't dying from those incidents.
They have with E. coli, a bacterium commonly found in fecal matter. Since the outbreak began, two children have died, and more than 400 people have become infected.
"Everyone has E. coli in their systems," says Steve Ostroff, a medical epidemiologist at the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta.
Most of the strains are harmless, Ostroff says. Others, like the current E. coli O157:H7, can cause a variety of illnesses, from minor stomach disorders to death.
The bacteria usually become food-borne during butchering, when they land on surfaces of the meat. With steaks, they aren't as much of a problem, Ostroff says, because cooking temperatures kill the bacteria on meat surfaces. But in hamburger, anything on the surface is ground into the product.
Many of the E. coli-related outbreaks since this strain of the bacterium was identified in 1982 were associated with hamburger or ground beef, Ostroff says. But some have unlikely sources:
A 1985 outbreak in North Carolina was the result of one infected child attending a day-care center. Workers unknowingly passed the illness to other children and families by changing diapers. The initial source was never found, but Ostroff says the same type of transmission is occurring in Washington.
In 1988, students at a college in Wisconsin were infected after eating roast beef at their graduation dinner.
In the late 1980s, kindergartners in Toronto became ill after drinking raw milk on a dairy-farm field trip.
Last year, an outbreak in Massachusetts was traced to apple cider made from fruit that was picked up off the ground. The source has not been confirmed, but Ostroff speculates rain-water run-off from a cattle field contaminated the apples.
"This is not a problem just in fast-food restaurants," says Marcia Snyder of the Norfolk Health Department. "People should be aware and cook real carefully at home. They need to wash all surfaces well and wash their hands."
Valerie Reich, environmental health supervisor at the Virginia Beach Health Department recommends checking your restaurant burger before you eat it.
"Cut it open with a little plastic knife and if there's any pink, turn it back in," she says.
Early symptoms of the disease usually include abdominal cramps as severe as labor pains, Ostroff says.
Pains are followed by watery diarrhea that becomes frequent and bloody. Any fever is usually low-grade, Ostroff says. For most patients, illness lasts five to 10 days.
But in 5 percent to 10 percent of cases, particularly children's, the disease progresses to hemolytic uremic syndrome. In this stage, the red blood cells burst within the bloodstream, and kidney failure occurs, Ostroff says.
The severity of the illness has prompted the Food and Drug Administration and Virginia's health department to issue new recommendations to restaurants for hamburger and ground beef preparation. However, local health officials point out, these are only suggestions. The situation has not been studied sufficiently, they say, and new regulations have not been adopted.
Current regulations, said Reich, require that "rare beef shall be cooked to an internal temperature of 130 degrees unless otherwise ordered by the customer."
And that leaves it up to the customer.
Many people assume that if meat looks and smells good, it's OK. But, Ostroff says, "You can't look at a piece of meat or smell a piece of meat and tell whether it has this organism or it doesn't. And you can never reduce your chance to zero.
"But we are recommending they be well-done. Hamburgers should be brown. Juices coming from the meat should run clear. If those conditions are met, you have greatly reduced the chances that the organism survived."
Officials from local health departments and the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, suggest these tips for avoiding E. coli infections:
Clean all work surfaces, including utensils and cutting boards with warm, soapy water immediately after handling raw meat.
Do not use the same spatula to place raw meat on the grill and remove it from the grill.
Always remove cooked meat from the stove to a clean plate.
Wash your hands often, and insist children to the same, especially after going to the bathroom.
Cook beef until brown, and juices run clear. If you don't have an instant-read meat thermometer, buy one. "Don't guess," said Valerie Reich, environmental health supervisor for the Virginia Beach Health Department. "Anything that is raw, such as turkey, seafood, chicken, pork, is contaminated with bacteria."
When eating out, cut your burger open before you eat it. If there is any pink, send it back - or eat at your own risk.