e coli shmecoli - ground meat is very much susceptible to e coli poisoning if it is undercooked.

I can't wait till we start hearing about lead tainted burgers.

i don't know that in wa it is against the law to serve undercooked hamburger.. otherwise red robin would be in trouble. maybe it is a different situation. i'm no expert.

Best fast food burgers, IMHO.

but this is real close to the Culinary Institute of America, altho the employees look more like high school kids.

And I bet you would be upset if your milk was not frozen, with little bits of Oreo, too!

@rjhiggins: Looking for improvement in the restaurant? Masochist? Not really good at learning?

"@specialed5000: "It's much less likely to have little bits of E coli contaminated cow poop in it."

The contamination generally comes from the slaughterhouse, not the store. Washing before grinding is a good idea, but that won't stop strains of E. Coli like 0157:H7."

Thank you for repeating exactly what I just said:

"E coli contamination tends to happen at the slaughterhouse/processing plant when bacteria from the intestines contaminates the meat."

In fact it was irresponsible regarding the regardlessness of "said" irresponsibility.

(chuckle)

Irregardless is not & should not be an intelligent word. Let's break it down

Root: regard
Definition: to have or show respect or concern for.

Prefix: Ir
Definition: prefix meaning "not" or "the opposite of"

Suffix: less
Definition: Without, lacking.

Put it all together and Irregardless becomes a double-negative and therefore means with regard!!!

Neway, if it was me, I'd just politely complain to the counter folk and I'm sure they'd make another batch of burgers. When you're making 5 gagillion burgers a day, stuff happens.

@axiomatic: More a town. Lots of antique shops, a river runs through it, close to Monroe...home of local NASCAR racing. John Popper from Blues Traveler lives out there somewhere. Two good car shows each year and a festival called Kla Ha Ya Days...which is something Native American, I assume.

Like nails on a chalkboard. How can I concentrate on the rest of the story after an amateur writing gaff like that?

They look fine to me.

Is this contagious... or actually a city?

awwww crap (hopefully not literally)...i've eaten at that DQ

The contamination generally comes from the slaughterhouse, not the store. Washing before grinding is a good idea, but that won't stop strains of E. Coli like 0157:H7.

First of all, don't buy food at Dairy Queen.

Second, this guy went back and bought meat from a place where he has made "several complaints in the past".

Is this the only restaurant within 20 miles of his house or does he just like to complain? I'm thinking he likes to complain.

This one should not have made it onto the Consumerist. Not even on April 1st

That's the exception rather than the rule, especially at chain restaurants.

Yes, I know he can do everything cheaper and safer in his own house etc. etc. etc., but if he DOES decide to buy a burger the health risk should come from the added calories and fat, not the added E. Coli.

2: i have never been more happy to not live in everett.

If you live near a Wegman's - irradiated ground beef. Mmmm.

@rainmkr:

I have a hangup when it comes to raw meat (I dont even like handling it without latex gloves). It all happened with all those damn dateline reports about e coli contamination years ago. Mad cow didnt help much either.

I am not a germaphobe though. Only when it comes to raw meat. Otherwise I am a disgusting mess.

YUCK@!!! My burgers have to be grey in the middle.... NO PINK! No e-coli for me thanks!

I am very wary of undercooked food... my eggs have to be well cooked (NOT runny) etc. etc..

@specialed5000: I try to stay away from the bung hole when I bite into a cow.

Are you kidding me? I only eat my burgers cold and red in the center. If you overcook a burger, it defeats its own purpose.

I like a burger with a little warm pink in the middle, but would never order one that way in a restaurant, only well done. When I make them at home, I only buy ground beef that is ground on site in the meat dept of my local grocery store. It's much less likely to have little bits of E coli contaminated cow poop in it.

@langba: Steaks are much, much less likely to have E coli contamination than ground beef (grinding it in huge plants creates conditions where a little bit of cow crap can contaminate millions of pounds of ground beef). I will order a steak medium in a restaurant, but never a burger.

Note for Americans: In Canada, "Well done" is what your getting. Please enjoy the wonderful barley-fed beef, YUM!

Seriously though, the first time I was asked this I was totally shocked. I was raised to mistrust all ground meat and treat it like I would chicken or pork.

@llcooljabe: I figured, but I just had to say something. I have Teret's of the Fingers when I'm typing. Happy 54557th Modified Julian Date Day!

@SoCalGNX:

I had an Aussie co-worker who's order went "Chop off the horns, wipe it's bum and toss it on the plate"

@Beerad: I'm interested to see if the letter is real...my initial impression was that it was made-up ("I went to DQ again after refusing to eat there due to subpar food") but consumers write crazy things sometimes.

For some reason, I also think the sentence "We purchased 4 cheeseburgers and a couple of Oreo brownie blast things." is really funny.

@langba:

I was just joking. I suppose I should have put one of those smiley faces on my post, or maybe a generous dose of "LOL" sprinkled in.

If you grind meat yourself, and the cut comes from a good butcher, you should be able to grind your own beef and cook your burgers to whatever degree you want. The way I see it, unless you are grinding it yourself, burgers shouldn't have any pink to them. You just don't know what condition the grinding equipment is, or the quality of the meats that have gone through a commercial grinder. The main problem with ground beef is that all of it comes into contact with grinding blades, and if any one of those blades has any kind of bacteria on it, it's just spread it to every inch of that ground beef.

@llcooljabe: He only considers himself a victim because he chooses not to eat ground steak that happens to be a little rare. I don't recalling any information posted in DQ that promises their burgers will be completely cooked. He just needs to explain what he wants a little better and stop expecting DQ to be a mind reader.

@A.W.E.S.O.M.-O: But when you can't tell the jokes from the regular content...

I believe that the beef supplied to Dairy Queen has been irradiated. Therefore there should be no concern about bacteria in an undercooked burger. Concern about irradiation is a whole new subject.

Are there really so many people who don't understand that this is a joke?

Personally, I have my fingers crossed for a Conglomerist "we just innocently asked to check this guy's receipt and he started screaming and ranting about the Fourth Amendment" post.

I love my DQ!

Completely uncooked and it would have been a cannibal burger. And, yes, *some* people will eat cannibal burgers. (How many times can I say cannibal? Ooh, one more!) Cannibal, cannibal, cannibal.

Anywho, I saw a coworker that always orders a rare steak freak out at a rare burger. What do you think that steak turns into after the first chew? Maybe the steak sauce recolors the meat a brownish color. Ketchup wouldn't be helping the situation about the burger. Aah! It's bleeding vinegar and ketchup! Aah!

I'm sick and tired of everyone blaming the victim.

@Booji_Boy: Like I said, I'm not comfortable enough with DQ's food handling procedures to trust anything cooked less than a dull grey color (same with McD, Wendy's, etc.). But I'll take my chances with a medium rare burger from just about any reputable local eatery I'm frequenting, thank you very much. I've had food poisoning before (I think from some tainted tortilla soup, go figure) and it's certainly no picnic (so to speak), but it hasn't deterred my preference in burger doneness.

Yes!! It's about time business starts to FIGHT BACK.

I worked @ a very well run DQ as a manager right outta college for two years. I got paid VERY well for the job. I can tell you exactly what happend here- The burgers are put through a broiler to thaw/cook (they are frozen going in), this buy itself, if speeded up to hurry the burgers along will cause them to come out just like this guy's burgers did. Undercooked. You are SUPPOSED TO FINISH THEM ON THE FRIER! Obviously, these people are lazy, and that didn't get done. End of story.

Well done, or it's going back!

@RamV10: You are correct to watch the blood and color of liquid coming out of the burger, but never poke your burger with a fork. You will end up with dry burgers.

@tme2nsb: And i know what I did there. Damn no edit button.

According to the article, these are FISH sandwhiches.

* Sorry, T-Mobile!

I saw something that said that overall, Dairy Queen was the most poorly run, and filthiest of the major chains.

The same story pointed out one of the filthiest which unfortunately was right down the street from where I used to live(Orlando, Florida) and visited by me and my wife on many occasions.

@Beerad: "Undercooked meat isn't automatically "poisonous," you know".
For most beef, rare is not a problem. Ground beef needs to be cooked all the way through. Has to do with the fact that the outside, which may have been sitting on a contaminated surface, is now on the inside due to the grinding process.

And yeah, 99% of the time it's not a problem, but you REALLY don't want to be part of that 1%.

The reason that steaks can be pink in the middle but burgers can't is really quite simple.

The inside of the steak is contained by the outside of the steak, therefore there is no way for outside contaminates to get in. That's why you cook the outside.

A burger is ground beef. That means that the inside of the burger was likely on the outside at sometime, and you need to cook it thoroughly the whole way through to ensure that any and all contaminates get taken care of.

I hardly ever even cook and I know this. When cooking burgers poke them with a fork. When blood quits coming out of your fork holes, that means it's done (or close to it). I guess you could use a thermometer too, but a fork is generally cheaper and more readily available.

But Dairy Queen? Yeah that bitch better be charred to a crisp.

God that makes me hungery.

So can't wait until may to get my in and out fix on!

I think C-ist's April Fool's gag is to post stories that are just confusing. This seems too absurd to be real, but then again... Is it a joke? Who knows?

Undercooked meat isn't automatically "poisonous," you know. I do wish I could get burgers like that, just not at Dairy Queen. Given the average level of food safety/quality at DQ they should probably be searing meat to ash before serving it. But is siccing the regulators on them really the best way to address this?

In any event, the funniest part of this news article/joke is "Went to this DQ ... again tonight ... after refusing to go there for a while due to their sub-par food." Did OP really expect that DQ had vastly improved their quality since last time? New chef, perhaps?

I like my hamburgers so fresh to the point that I still hear them moo-ing.

It's a good thing this guy wasn't eating it driving home at night.

I saw a show on Discovery, where a kid at a tiny bite, and later the bacteria ate through his large intestine.

mmmm e.coli!