There’s been national attention focused on North Carolina regarding our law that prohibits restaurants from serving rare and medium-rare hamburgers.

The story seems to be getting attention, in part, because it was featured on AOL’s Weird News.  After all, I didn’t know such a rule existed in this state and I imagine other North Carolinians didn’t as well.  And, well, it is kind of weird.

Clarifications

1) The law is actually an agency rule—there is no statute that says anything about this.

2) The rule is not new—it has been around since the 1990s.

3) The rule, which applies to food service establishments, states “ground beef and foods containing ground beef shall be cooked to an internal temperature of at least 155 degrees F (68 degrees C).”  Remember, you can cook rare hamburgers at home—I’m not suggesting that you do so, but it is your call.

Apparently, the North Carolina Division of Environmental Health, which is responsible for this rule, is considering the adoption of federal guidelines that would allow for rare ground beef so long as there are proper customer notices.  The rule change though may not go into effect until summer of 2012, if at all.

Big Picture

This story is actually important because it goes directly to the proper role of government and individual responsibility.  Restaurant customers should be able to decide for themselves whether they want a rare hamburger.  There may be some health risks, but people don’t need the nanny state to protect them from a really juicy hamburger.

BTW: I like medium hamburgers.