Celebrity chefs still know squat about food safety.

Ten years after we showed the majority of celebrity chefs were food safety imbeciles, foodie fanaticism (and fascism) continues unabated, with fashion still triumphing over facts. And it’s getting worse.

I don’t watch The View, the U.S. chat-fest and I don’t watch the Australian version, The Circle; both are often on at the same time as The Flintstones, so that’s some competitive background viewing (watching the Stanley Cup final live at 10 a.m. yesterday made for excellent background viewing).

Sarah Hubbart at Meatingplace.com did however catch The View on June 6, 2012, when Rachel Ray visited the ladies to chat up her new burger cookbook.

Whoopi: When meat is red like this, pink, it’s OK, right?

Rachel: I think people should be better educated about where their food comes from. If you want to eat meat, buy it once in awhile, buy really good quality, and know where it comes from … a lot of the ground beef scares we’ve had are from pre-made patties, mass-produced burgers.

Whoopi: so this is OK?

Rachel: Absolutely, 100 per cent; we made that grind ourselves. If you know the quality of your meat and buy something that says organic or grass-fed, you’re going to be fine if you like your burger a little pinker. … depending on what you’re cooking with, obviously you don’t want a rare turkey burger.

Obviously, Rachel is a victim of food fashion.

Hubbart got it right when she said all ground beef must be cooked to reach an internal temperature of 160F in order to kill bacteria and that color is a lousy indicator of safety.

Hubbart added, “I like how this beef producer put it: “Whether the beef is fed grass, hay, corn, soybean meal, or Krispy Kreme donuts also has nothing to do with the safety of the hamburger. Whether the beef is processed in a large facility, local butcher shop, or at home the same rules apply.”

References available through http://barfblog.foodsafety.ksu.edu/blog/140235/09/06/22/where-does-e-coli-o157h7-come-food-inc-and-cookie-dough-versions and http://www.foodsafety.ksu.edu/en/article-details.php?a=3&c=10&sc=74&id=271.

Bad food safety advice abounds, from many sources. I know celebrity chefs are there to entertain but is it that difficult to get it right?

People watch this stuff, they buy the cookbooks, so the celebtards say what they want while depositing another cheque.