[Vanilla Bean]

On a box of frozen "vegan" Boca burgers, I noticed that under the cooking directions, there is a statement that says,

"For proper food safety and quality follow cooking directions and:
* Do not eat burgers without cooking to 160 F(degrees)
*Do not allow burgers to thaw"

It's on the website too:
http://www.bocafoods...http://www.bocafoods.com/main.aspx?m=cooking_burgers

How is it that a "meatless" burger that can be microwaved for just over a minute would need to be cooked at 160 degrees for food safety? I understand the part about not letting the burger thaw out, but am I missing something here?

[timmyboy52i]

i believe that it's just a disclaimer so that if someone gets sick from eating a raw boca burger that they don't get sued... freezing the burger only STOPS bacteria growth, cooking the burger at 160F kills all bacteria that could possibly be found on the burger...

[thebelovedtree]

Anything that is being reheated or cooked in a microwave legally needs to be cooked to 165 F before it can be served in a restaurant in most jurisdictions.

[CaliGal]

But I don't get it, why would a Boca burger hurt you even if you were to eat it raw and frozen? (though that would be pretty nasty) It seems like only meat should hurt you if uncooked..

[timmyboy52i]

a lot of boca burgers contain eggs... you should cook a boca burger for the same reason you wouldn't want to eat a raw egg... if it's a vegan boca burger, then i have no idea

[MollyGoat]

timmyboy52i said:

i believe that it's just a disclaimer so that if someone gets sick from eating a raw boca burger that they don't get sued... freezing the burger only STOPS bacteria growth, cooking the burger at 160F kills all bacteria that could possibly be found on the burger...

Well first of all, freezing does not stop bacteria growth, it only slows it. Food can still go bad, albeit much more gradually, in a freezer.

Second of all--ANY food can give you food poisoning. Animal foods are more risky initially because they often carry a lot of bacteria, but plant foods can quickly grow bacteria and become dangerous. Especially foods that are not acidic--foods like tofu, beans, cooked grains...it's just as important to be safe with plant foods.

[Tesseract]

I don't think meat is the ONLY source of food-born pathogens-- it's just the most common one. Being vegetarian doesn't mean you can throw all food safety precautions out the window. Plenty of people have gotten sick from produce, and I don't think it was all due to cross-contamination from meat. For example, I remember a news story a few years ago about a large outbreak of illness from cyclosporin-infected strawberries, and there was no sign in any of the coverage that it was a cross-contamination issue.

[thebelovedtree]

CaliGal said:

But I don't get it, why would a Boca burger hurt you even if you were to eat it raw and frozen? (though that would be pretty nasty) It seems like only meat should hurt you if uncooked..

Boca burgers meet all of the qualifications of foods which support bacterial growth (high protein, neutral or slightly acidic PH, moist) all they need is the right temperature.

If the burgers were allowed to thaw during shipping and then weren't cooked high enough before being served they could easily give some one a food borne illness.

Many many vegetarian foods support bacterial growth, you're not exempt from food safety just because you don't eat meat.


ETA: Wow triple posting at the same time :bobo: yay food safety Nazis!

[Tesseract]

:up:

And don't forget the breaking news recently about garlic/oil preparations and how they must be kept refrigerated because they can grow... what was it, botulism? Another example of not needing meat to get sick from food.

PS: I'm re-reading the OP and it occurs to me that Vanilla Bean may have been getting at a slightly different issue, which is, can you really get something to 160 F in one minute in the microwave? I guess if one minute gets it hot enough to steam, the answer would be yes.

[MollyGoat]

Yes! Anything with garlic and oil or butter (like our fave veggie staple, hummus) MUST be refrigerated ASAP and not kept for too long (i.e., don't make garlic-Earth Balance and keep it for three months). Botulism is almost always fatal because once the symptoms become recognizable as botulism, it's usually too late to do anything.

And make sure your refrigerators are cold enough, people! 39 degrees Farenheit or lower!

And don't store anything too perishable on the refrigerator door! :no: