Meat Scientist On Why You Should Always Order A Burger Well Done

Amy's nephew-in-law is Dr. Drew Cassens, who is actually a meat scientist. He called into the Bobby Bones Show to answer all of our burning questions about meat. Dr. Cassens has a background in Animal Agriculture and got involved in meat judging when he was in college, which sparked his passion for meat science. The purpose of his job is to make sure food tastes good, it's juicy, and it's safe for people to consume.

The reason Dr. Cassens was brought to the show came after Amy mentioned always ordering burgers well done at restaurants. Dr. Cassens told her that if someone is going to order a burger from a restaurant, they should always get it well done. The reason being that with meat, bacteria is on the surface, so when it's all grounded up then the bacteria is throughout the entire product. So the best thing people can do is order it well done to ensure they don't get sick. On the other hand, ordering a steak from a restaurant is different. He says you can safely order medium-rare, that's his preferred preference. Because bacteria is on the surface of meat, once steaks are put on a hot grill, it's safe to eat. There are some people who get rare/blue rare when ordering steaks, and that is the lowest degree of doneness where the steak is cold in the center.

Dr. Cassens also addressed several of our other questions. People shouldn't be eating raw meat, meat products need to be cooked to a safe temperature. Beef tartare is the only raw beef product one can consume, and that's because they add lime or lemon juice which has acid to break things down within the meat. He also noted to those killing animals, that if they kill an animal, they shouldn't eat it raw. Bacteria lives in the environment and eating the animal right away means eating the bacteria that lives within the environment and that could be deadly. On the other side of that, Bones asked if someone were to be stranded on an island and had to consume a human, what part of the body should they eat? Dr. Cassens suggested that likely the back area, the loin section will be the most tender.

Before he got off the call, Dr. Cassens addressed the age old question, should we be eating red meat? He noted that red meat is good for you, however we need to ensure that we are consuming lean red meat. That's the key.


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