Turns out burgers aren’t killing people, Minister
ACT Leader David Seymour today challenged the Minister for Food Safety on current and proposed red tape on chefs serving burgers.
The Minister had difficulty explaining just how much time and money ‘bespoke’ food plans would cost chefs who simply
want to serve medium-rare burgers, describing hours of red tape and hundreds of dollars in fees before suggesting MPI is
developing yet another ‘template’ for rare foods.
“The reluctance to answer indicates the exorbitant cost to chefs like Dan Fraser who was told by an MPI official that he
could instead just sous vide his burgers. As he was quoted saying, ‘who the f*** wants a sous vide burger’?
“In 10 years we haven’t seen a single death from pink meat, let alone from medium-rare burgers. In fact, ACT can confirm
that of the 330 reported e-coli cases in 2015, only 19 listed pink meat as a potential cause, compared to 103 linked to
contact with household pets and 137 linked to consumption of raw fruit and vegetables. [1]
“As is often the case with red tape, the justification for new burger preparation rules is slim, and the cost high, to
both restaurants and burger-lovers. ACT is the only party that says we need less red tape, not more, and this is a
perfect example of why.”
ENDS