Undercooked hamburgers
A medium-rare steak and a medium-rare burger may look similar, but Griffin says they’re completely different from a food-safety perspective. With a steak, bacteria generally stay on the surface, where cooking kills them. Grind that same meat into a hamburger, though, and any bacteria get mixed throughout the patty.
“You’re gonna take whatever bacterial contamination, E. coli, or fecal contamination, and now you’re gonna mix it all deep in there,” he says.
That’s why Griffin always orders burgers well done. Yiannas does too. At home, he uses a food thermometer instead of relying on color alone.
Potlucks and picnic foods
Roberts is wary of foods prepared outside regulated kitchens. “If it’s a potluck, I’m out,” she says. “If it’s a bake sale, no.” When coworkers organize a potluck, she jokes that she suddenly has another commitment. “I’m always ill,” she says.
Family cookouts are a different story, because she can watch the food being grilled. Even then, she’s vigilant about anything that sits out in the summer heat. Rather than leaving a big bowl of potato salad on the picnic table, she has her family keep most of it in the refrigerator and bring out only a small portion at a time, refilling the bowl as needed. Her sister now teases her by asking, “Do you want me to get an aliquot?”—a laboratory term Roberts has turned into family shorthand for serving a small batch.
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