At what point does steak tartare earn the label, ‘ready-to-eat?’

Maybe it’s a Dutch thing.

Eurosurveillance reports today about the fourth food-borne outbreak in recent years linked to consumption of steak tartare and other raw beef products in the Netherlands. In 2006 to 2008, despite intensive monitoring and control programmes, Salmonella was still found in-store in raw meats (such as steak tartare and ossenworst) intended for direct consumption.

In the latest case, between October and December 2009, 23 cases of Salmonella Typhimurium (Dutch) phage type 132, each with an identical multiple-locus variable-number tandem-repeat analysis (MLVA) profile (02-20-08-11-212), were reported from across the Netherlands. A case–control study was conducted using the food-consumption component of responses to a routine population-based survey as a control group. The mean age of cases was 17 years (median: 10 years, range: 1–68). Sixteen cases were aged 16 years or under. Raw or undercooked beef products were identified as the probable source of infection. Consumers, in particular parents of young children, should be reminded of the potential danger of eating raw or undercooked meat.

The full report is available at:
http://www.eurosurveillance.org/ViewArticle.aspx?ArticleId=19705