While most people are used to the grayish, overcooked burgers often served at fast food mega-chains, inspectors for the Washington Dept. of Health have found what they call a “disturbing trend” of undercooked beef being served at Burger King.

“[W]e are deeply concerned about reports relating to undercooking hamburgers at many Burger Kings in our state,” Food Safety Advisor Larry French wrote in a Sept. 1 letter to Burger King’s manager of food safety and regulatory compliance. “Inspection reports from several of our local health jurisdictions show a disturbing trend.”

According to inspectors, BK staffers were not accurately judging the temperature of the burgers being served and that they assumed “the brief microwave step will ‘remedy’ any undercooking issues.”

A rep for Burger King tells SeattlePI.com:

Preliminary findings from the health department indicate some of the restaurants inspected produced variable cooking temperatures that did not meet BKC’s stringent food safety procedures… These franchise operators are now taking immediate action to ensure that their restaurants are meeting the company’s stringent food preparation procedures, which include cooking hamburger patties to a target temperature of 165 (degrees Farenheit), as well as verifying cooking temperatures at least four times a day.

BK will also be retraining Washington franchise owners and requesting that restaurant teams be retrained on proper procedures.

Burger King shows ‘disturbing trend’ of burger prep, state says [SeattlePI.com]

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