 Rare burgers are now widespread in the UK |
• CIEH says consistent enforcement difficult
• Pennington says stick with existing rules
The
FSA has told local authorities not to take action against food businesses
serving pink burgers providing they print warnings on their menus and put in
place safeguards to control the risks posed by potentially deadly E. coli
infections.
Steve
Wearne, FSA director of policy, told delegates at the CIEH and TIFSIP annual
food safety conference last week the risks were ‘acceptable’ for businesses with
approved food safety systems.
‘This
has the potential to offer a better public health control than simply banning
the process and then allowing the courts to challenge our decision and leaving
us in a state of confusion we currently are,’ he said.
Mr
Wearne stressed the FSA still supported the recommendation of its Advisory
Committee on the Microbiological Safety of Food (ACMSF) for thorough cooking to
kill all pathogens in burgers.
But
he said that the food watchdog now proposed that ‘no action be taken against
those businesses that are not cooking burgers thoroughly but do have validated
food safety systems in place, which achieve a similar level of pathogen
reduction through a combination of sourcing, treatment and preparation on the
premise.’
Jenny
Morris, the head of the Institute of Food Safety Integrity and Protection, said
it was still not clear what constituted a properly validated HACCP system for
the production of under-cooked burgers.
‘Until
the evidence for safe systems is available EHOs really need some examples of
what a good, well-validated HACCP should look like. Without this it will be
virtually impossible to make consistent enforcement decisions,’ she said.
She
also questioned if consumers would be able to grasp the infrequent but serious
risks posed by pink burgers.
‘Will
consumers really be able to understand the risks from a product with the
potential to carry a low dose, intermittently occurring pathogen that can cause
death and severe disability? Much research shows that general risk based
judgement is poor,’ she said.
Ms
Morris, who also CIEH principal policy officer, added that menu warnings
would not absolve the business of responsibility.
‘I
believe also that any warning would not absolve the business of responsibility
should harm occur. Decisions about extent of liability would hinge around the
business's HACCP which the FSA has made clear must be good along the whole
supply chain,’ she said.
Professor
Hugh Pennington, who has chaired two public inquires into E. coli outbreaks, told
EHN that the risks could not be managed safely.
‘For
me the only alternative to the ACMSF safe cooking procedure necessary to prevent E. coil O157and other similar
contaminants causing a potentially lethal infection would be irradiation of the
mince. No chance. It has to be the ACMSF,’ he said.
The
FSA has been forced to rethink its approach as the trend for serving burgers
rare has spread throughout out the UK and restaurants have challenged councils
taking enforcement action.
In
2013 a judge upheld part of an appeal by Davy’s – a restaurant chain that operates
26 restaurants across London - against a notice requiring it to change the way
it cooked burgers. The judge ruled that it was acceptable for Davy’s to serve
burgers rare because it sourced its beef from a reputable supplier.
A
restaurant in Portsmouth, 6 oz Burgers, is currently challenging a hygiene
emergency prohibition notice preventing it from serving burgers rare. The case
is expected to be heard at Portsmouth magistrates this month.
Last
year 22 people were made ill with E. coli with three hospitalised after eating
undercooked burgers at the SSE Hydro conference centre in Glasgow.
The
1993 Jack in the Box E. coli outbreak in the US, which was linked to
undercooked burgers, led to the deaths of four children. It made 732 people
ill, with 195 hospitalised