I posted a similar question a while back and I can't believe I am in the same place again. My 11 year old son and I are visiting my mom
and she lives near a great burger place. It has the #2 zagat rated burger in her city. We love to eat there. We had yummy burgers a few days ago, and decided we had to go back once more before leaving. Today my husband joined us. My son and I ordered well done sliders. I always check my son's burger before he digs in. The burgers at this place are always perfect, and we were so excited to have my husband with us that I didn't brother to look. My son was down to the last bite of his second slider when I noticed it was a solid pink inside. I know I can't do anything now, but I am nervous. Children should eat well done burgers, but I suppose at the age of 11 I shouldn't worry as much as with a younger child. After all, my mom is 90 and she eats rare burgers even though I tell her not to and she is fine. Should I be concerned?
A pink burger is not raw meat. Your son is going to be fine. Leave your mom alone and let her eat what she wants.
Pink doesn’t mean raw or unsafe. You are worried about food h consumed a few days ago? Let it go, he is FINE!!!
Children should eat burgers cooked to a SAFE internal temperature. That doesn’t mean they have to be well done.
Deep breath. He’ll be just fine. I do hope you don’t worry this much about everything!
You are ok. Quit worrying.
Updated
You are ok. Quit worrying.
I wouldn’t worry about it.
My son happens to like well done - so does my husband.
But I like mine medium (steak and hamburgers).
I find well done to be tough and dry.
My guys say I like mine ‘moo-ing’ - which isn’t correct - I don’t care much for rare.
(My Mom introduced me to clams and oysters on the half shell (raw) when I was 13 - kind of a rite of passage.
I LOVE LOVE LOVE them!)
If your Mom’s made it to 90 - she’s doing something right - and she can eat her meat any way she wants to.
E. coli is killed at 155*. So, the burger only has to be heated to 160* in order to be “safe” according to USDA standards. That can still be pink in the middle.
Stop worrying. At 11, unless he is tiny, he is the weight/height of an adult. By now, he would sick anyway, if he ate the burger a few days ago.
Stop telling your mother what to do and how to eat. That’s ridiculous. She’s grown… let her eat whatever she wants.
A little pink is nothing to worry about at all. We mostly order “Medium Well” which is a step between Medium and well done. Well done is a little too over cooked and dry for our taste. Medium well still has a little pink and isn’t bloody at all. That sounds like what he had by your description.
He’s going to be fine. Especially at the age of 11.
I’ve never heard that children should eat well done burgers. Personally, that’s the way I like them (that is, when I actually eat red meat), but my husband and son always order medium.
I have heard they should not eat undercooked. We should all be aware of that. But as others have said, medium is not the same as undercooked. (though it would taste that way to me!)
There is nothing wrong with eating a burger that is pink in the middle
I’ve never heard that children should eat well done burgers. Kids eat carpaccio in Europe (it’s raw beef sliced real thin) so a medium burger shouldn’t hurt your son…
And why are you telling your mother what to do? Is she mentally compromised and needs help making simple decisions?
Rare/pink beef is fine, it’s poultry and pork that you need to worry about!
Why on god’s earth should a child eat a destroyed burger? Cheese and crackers! My kids eat meat the way we eat meat and have done so since they had teeth. All four of them are alive, a couple have made it to adulthood in spite of my neglect.
Holy crackers! I just read 11!! I thought you were talking about a toddler!
Who told you that meat had to be abused for children? That is just nuts!
I guess you aren’t too keen on the raw meat dishes either. Yikes!
Seriously anything beyond medium is destroyed, how sad.
After reading a few comments about your past questions, I looked. Oh my! Yeah, you really need to talk to someone because this isn’t normal.
Okay, laughing at the people that say that grinding mixes up the bacteria. Nope, after grinding bacteria can enter quicker but most quality restaurants get their ground beef in vacuum packed sealed tubes so they have no more bacteria than a steak.
Now if you go to a crappy restaurant it really doesn’t matter what you eat, you are probably going to get sick.
Places like Mc Donalds cremate their beef because lets face it, teens don’t give a poop if your burger falls on the floor, beef is left out, whatever. Plenty of bacteria in everything they make so thank god they cook it to death and then compensate with condiments.
They don’t want to lose their zagat rating by serving over cooked meat. (trying to make you feel better). McDonalds and places that use lower quality meat need to make sure it is over cooked. Places that use higher quality product can usually give their customers choices (rare, medium rare, medium, medium well, and well done). Some proud chefs feel it is an embarrassment to serve medium to well done beef. They would be kicked off Top Chef in a heart beat.
No, you should not be concerned.
I regularly eat fish, and choose to go to restaurants with a good reputation. That way, when my nice piece of ahi is ever-so-slightly raw in the middle, I know I got a sashimi grade piece of fish to begin with and not something that had been sitting in the walk-in for a week.
Chances are he’ll be fine-- and he has a great dining experience as well. 
Meat has bacteria on it. When it’s a steak both sides of the meat are heated to brown it so it kills any bacteria that is on it.
When you grind meat up all that bacteria that is on the outside it’s all throughout the meat. So that’s why ground meat “should” be fully cooked. It doesn’t have to be burned on the outside, just not pink.
If he has any upset stomach or diarrhea then take him to the ER and tell them he ate a rare burger. That way they can treat it if it’s contaminated meat related.
I thought I recognized your post. You admit you tend to OCD about food.
And boy you are right.
You have asked about food situations before.
Maybe you need to figure out where this fear comes from. Your son is 11, you are going to freak him out with these food hang ups.
Your mom is how old? If she grew up when I did,heck we left our Real boiled Easter eggs out for days. My grandmother never had air conditioning and would leave a platter of fried chicken on her kitchen table, with a dish towel on it, for us to eat for lunch. She worked on Saturdays, so she fried it up before leaving for work.
Sure teach him the optimal conditions, but do not worry so much if you miss something, especially if everyone is feeling ok.
Remember rare, medium and well are options.
After looking over some of your past posts may I suggest that the one thing you should be worried about is your worry. If kids got sick from a medium burger there would be quite a line at the ER.
When you let this kind of stuff consume you it rubs off on the rest of your family. Try to let stuff like this go. You have nothing to fear but fear itself.
And the problem is???!
Just as Gamma G said, the grinding of the meat is what can cause problems, but if your son doesn’t have a reaction then there is no need to worry. You can only wait it out and see how tough his stomach is!