My Son Ate a Medium Burger

“Supposing a tree fell down, Pooh, when we were underneath it?” said Piglet.

“Supposing it didn’t,” said Pooh after careful thought.

Piglet was comforted by this.

—A. A. Milne

Nope, he will be fine! My son eats medium rare meat all the time, and even likes sushi. Like the raw fish stuff. He's 7

After looking over some of your past posts may I suggest that the one thing you should be worried about is your worry. If kids got sick from a medium burger there would be quite a line at the ER.

When you let this kind of stuff consume you it rubs off on the rest of your family. Try to let stuff like this go. You have nothing to fear but fear itself.

Why on god's earth should a child eat a destroyed burger? Cheese and crackers! My kids eat meat the way we eat meat and have done so since they had teeth. All four of them are alive, a couple have made it to adulthood in spite of my neglect.

Holy crackers! I just read 11!! I thought you were talking about a toddler!

Who told you that meat had to be abused for children? That is just nuts!

I guess you aren't too keen on the raw meat dishes either. Yikes!

Seriously anything beyond medium is destroyed, how sad.
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After reading a few comments about your past questions, I looked. Oh my! Yeah, you really need to talk to someone because this isn't normal.

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Okay, laughing at the people that say that grinding mixes up the bacteria. Nope, after grinding bacteria can enter quicker but most quality restaurants get their ground beef in vacuum packed sealed tubes so they have no more bacteria than a steak.

Now if you go to a crappy restaurant it really doesn't matter what you eat, you are probably going to get sick.

Places like Mc Donalds cremate their beef because lets face it, teens don't give a poop if your burger falls on the floor, beef is left out, whatever. Plenty of bacteria in everything they make so thank god they cook it to death and then compensate with condiments.

I thought I recognized your post. You admit you tend to OCD about food.

And boy you are right.
You have asked about food situations before.
Maybe you need to figure out where this fear comes from. Your son is 11, you are going to freak him out with these food hang ups.

Your mom is how old? If she grew up when I did,heck we left our Real boiled Easter eggs out for days. My grandmother never had air conditioning and would leave a platter of fried chicken on her kitchen table, with a dish towel on it, for us to eat for lunch. She worked on Saturdays, so she fried it up before leaving for work.

Sure teach him the optimal conditions, but do not worry so much if you miss something, especially if everyone is feeling ok.

Remember rare, medium and well are options.

I've never heard that children should eat well done burgers. Kids eat carpaccio in Europe (it's raw beef sliced real thin) so a medium burger shouldn't hurt your son...

And why are you telling your mother what to do? Is she mentally compromised and needs help making simple decisions?

There is nothing wrong with eating a burger that is pink in the middle

And the problem is???!

Seek counseling. No, I'm not being mean, I read some of your posts and worry is eating you alive. A nice behavioral therapist who can help you get a grip on your anxiety level would probably make life much more pleasant for you and your family. Good luck.

E. coli is killed at 155*. So, the burger only has to be heated to 160* in order to be "safe" according to USDA standards. That can still be pink in the middle.
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes-and-cooking/meat-and-p...

Stop worrying. At 11, unless he is tiny, he is the weight/height of an adult. By now, he would sick anyway, if he ate the burger a few days ago.

Stop telling your mother what to do and how to eat. That's ridiculous. She's grown... let her eat whatever she wants.

What Thea said, and everyone else.

You should probably see a counselor about your phobias.

Honestly, the most worrisome thing in your post is the fact that you regularly check your 11 year old son's meat before he eats it to make sure it is well done! He's 11. Even if having the burger well done was objectively important, at 11 years old he should be able to check the meat himself.

Your son ate the entire burger... perhaps he prefers meat that is not as well done. He's not eating raw meat. I assure you that the meat was cooked to a temperature that is safe to eat (it was prepared at a commercial burger place, they'd be put out of business if they weren't following food prep guidelines and/or customers were getting sick).

Try to breath, relax, and don't ruin the fun time you had with your husband and son going out for yummy burgers.

My kids have NEVER eaten a burger cooked more than medium - why ruin a good thing? Personally, I like my burgers medium rare and my steaks rare. I can't even imagine having to eat meat well-done. Oh, and none of us have EVER had food poisoning.

Your son will be fine. Don't worry.

Really? Well done burgers are a punishment, not a meal. My kids have been eating medium burgers their whole lives. He's fine. And stop nagging your mother there is nothing wrong with a rare burger either.

Pink doesn't mean raw or unsafe. You are worried about food h consumed a few days ago? Let it go, he is FINE!!!!

Children should eat burgers cooked to a SAFE internal temperature. That doesn't mean they have to be well done.

A pink burger is not raw meat. Your son is going to be fine. Leave your mom alone and let her eat what she wants.

They don't want to lose their zagat rating by serving over cooked meat. (trying to make you feel better). McDonalds and places that use lower quality meat need to make sure it is over cooked. Places that use higher quality product can usually give their customers choices (rare, medium rare, medium, medium well, and well done). Some proud chefs feel it is an embarrassment to serve medium to well done beef. They would be kicked off Top Chef in a heart beat.

Really? I plan my time for bringing in ground beef from my butcher when hubby is not home because he'll eat a good 1/4!# raw before I get it into burgers and into freezer!

I honestly think if this is the worst thing in your life you're very lucky!!!

We never have eaten burgers well done... Gross

Look at the big picture here and gees.... Don't waste your time with nonsense worry.

Deep breath. He'll be just fine. I do hope you don't worry this much about everything!

I wouldn't worry about it.
My son happens to like well done - so does my husband.
But I like mine medium (steak and hamburgers).
I find well done to be tough and dry.
My guys say I like mine 'moo-ing' - which isn't correct - I don't care much for rare.
(My Mom introduced me to clams and oysters on the half shell (raw) when I was 13 - kind of a rite of passage.
I LOVE LOVE LOVE them!)
If your Mom's made it to 90 - she's doing something right - and she can eat her meat any way she wants to.

Hmm we eat our hamburgers medium rare, our steaks rare. Well done = gross. We have never ever been sick from this. Your a lot overboard on this.

Rare/pink beef is fine, it's poultry and pork that you need to worry about!

My kid ate too much at lunch the other day, got a tummy ache and then threw half of it up. Bounced right back and continued playing. Kids are pretty resilient. I pretty sure he'll be fine. If he's not, while he's barfing make sure to tell him what my dad always told me when I was miserable and hugging a toilet. "Try to enjoy this unique experience. It will help you appreciate the times when you're NOT puking!"

Thanks dad. Thanks a lot.

You are ok. Quit worrying.

Updated

You are ok. Quit worrying.

Is this for real? He will be ok.

As long as the burgers are cooked to the appropriate temperature, it is fine. If he contracted ecoli, he'd be sick by now, he ate the meat days ago. I think at 11, you don't need to "check" his burgers. Everyone should eat their meat cooked to the recommended temperature but that does not have to mean well done. Preteens don't need to eat well done meat.

The greatest risk is for young children, the elderly, and pregnant women; aka, those with weaker immune systems. Your son should be a-ok. I hope he enjoyed his burger because, at 36 weeks pregnant, I am DYING to have a medium burger

Just as Gamma G said, the grinding of the meat is what can cause problems, but if your son doesn't have a reaction then there is no need to worry. You can only wait it out and see how tough his stomach is!

I thought by the way you wrote your title that your son ate a medium sized burger instead of it being cooked only to medium.

Well, he is alive and well, right? Then he is okay. There are going to be times when he will eat things that you consider not safe and survive. I would worry over something else in life than a medium cooked hamburger. Life is too short to obsess over something this small.

Get help if you need it before the whole family becomes neurotic.

the other S.

PS Leave your 90 year old mom alone as she is not going to change her ways this late in life.

My daughter has eaten medium rare burgers and rare steaks since she was a child, and it never did her any harm. IMO, well done beef isn't fit for human consumption anyway.

I've never heard that children should eat well done burgers. Personally, that's the way I like them (that is, when I actually eat red meat), but my husband and son always order medium.

I have heard they should not eat undercooked. We should all be aware of that. But as others have said, medium is not the same as undercooked. (though it would taste that way to me!)

I'm not sure where you are getting your "facts" but I think you need to talk to your doctor. People (young and old) eat rare, even raw beef, all the time. Poultry should be cooked thoroughly, and pork, for sure, but I'm not sure where your beef information is coming from?

A little pink is nothing to worry about at all. We mostly order "Medium Well" which is a step between Medium and well done. Well done is a little too over cooked and dry for our taste. Medium well still has a little pink and isn't bloody at all. That sounds like what he had by your description.
He's going to be fine. Especially at the age of 11.

No, you should not be concerned.

I regularly eat fish, and choose to go to restaurants with a good reputation. That way, when my nice piece of ahi is ever-so-slightly raw in the middle, I know I got a sashimi grade piece of fish to begin with and not something that had been sitting in the walk-in for a week.

Chances are he'll be fine-- and he has a great dining experience as well. :)

My parents always ordered my burgers well done when I was growing up. I was an adult when I learned that I was totally missing out on taste by getting them so done. He'll be fine, and most likely will not want to go back to well done. If you really want to be safe you should probably not let him eat red meat at all. Mad cow disease can't be cooked out no matter how well done it is. My point is, you are worrying to the point that it is interfering with your daily life. If you are not careful, you are going to have a son that has the same fears that you do. Please try to work on this, I am a worry wart (my husband ALWAYS gets on to me), but not anything to the extent that you are. You will be happier, your family will be happier, and you will probably enjoy meals much more.

My kids have been eating their burgers medium, steaks medium rare for their entire lives with no ill effects.

Perhaps if we were in some third world country with poor food sanitation...that would be cause for concern. But we don't. You went to a highly reviewed restaurant which clearly has excellent standards. Chill out.

Meat has bacteria on it. When it's a steak both sides of the meat are heated to brown it so it kills any bacteria that is on it.

When you grind meat up all that bacteria that is on the outside it's all throughout the meat. So that's why ground meat "should" be fully cooked. It doesn't have to be burned on the outside, just not pink.

If he has any upset stomach or diarrhea then take him to the ER and tell them he ate a rare burger. That way they can treat it if it's contaminated meat related.

I'm by now you've found you son to be fine. I just wanted to chime in because your question (actually the answers you rec'd) has been bothering me since I read it last night. Is it possible that you and I are the only people who've ever heard of e coli? Seriously, although I don't think you should lose sleep over it, I would have been equally concerned if my 13 yr old DD had eaten a similar burger. Rare burgers can often have e coli bacteria that hasn't been cooked out.

I, personally, have a pretty sensitive tummy and if ten other people and I were to eat something containing e coli, I'd be the only one to get sick from it. I sometimes buy irradiated ground beef for this reason. DH likes a somewhat rare (pink) hamburger so the irradiated meat is ideal for this. He's the first one to look at DD's hamburger if we're eating out. I don't trust that a restaurant has "magic" ground beef that is without e coli. Here's a link I found. Don't believe everyone who told you you were crazy for being concerned about this. http://www.thekitchn.com/food-safety-is-it-safe-to-orde-4...

Your son didn't eat a rare burger or a raw burger. He ate a medium burger, which means it was cooked through but still somewhat pink. Rare would mean not only pink, but raw and uncooked.

What I would have done was taken that last bite of your son's burger and shown the manager that you had ordered a well done burger, but received one that wasn't well done and didn't notice until your son was nearly finished. Obviously your son enjoyed his burger but it wasn't what you ordered. A good manager would have addressed the issue then and there.

"How soon do symptoms appear after exposure?

http://www.cdc.gov/ecoli/general/#soon_symptoms

The time between ingesting the STEC bacteria and feeling sick is called the “incubation period.” The incubation period is usually 3-4 days after the exposure, but may be as short as 1 day or as long as 10 days. The symptoms often begin slowly with mild belly pain or non-bloody diarrhea that worsens over several days. HUS, if it occurs, develops an average 7 days after the first symptoms, when the diarrhea is improving."