Relationships among chemical, cooking and color properties of beef pattiescooked to four internal temperatures

A study involving five laboratories and nationwide sampling of ground beef was undertaken to determine cooking and color properties of patties cooked to 52.7, 65.6, 71.1 and 79.4C. The design of the study included purchase lo cation (local, distant) and patty handling prior to cooking (fresh, thawed either as patties or bulk ground beef). Purchase location was not a statist ically significant influence on cooking and color properties. Patties proce ssed from bulk thawed product had a higher amount of brown cooked color. A strong relationship existed between visual and instrumental measures of red color in cooked patties. However, correlations among other cooking propert ies were low. Patties with higher fat content were associated with shorter cooking times, lower cooking yields and more brown cooked color. The low re lationships between raw and cooked patty properties limits the use of raw g round beef properties as predictors of food safety in cooked beef patties. This further supports the use of instant read meat thermometers in cooking beef patties to at least 71C.