As if Ireland did not have enough problems

Ireland's Health Service Executive has banned the sale of rare hamburgers in some restaurants. A restaurant in Dublin got a formal written warning from the HSE that it should not serve burgers medium rare or rare. Jo'Burger in Rathmines was even careful to warn stupid people of the risks of eating rare burgers: We will serve your burger as you request it, rare to well-done. Rare and medium burgers are undercooked. Note eating of undercooked or raw meat may lead to food-borne illness - proclaimed a warning on the menu. 
But that wouldn't satisfy the HSE. They have gone ahead and "requested" that the restaurant refrain from serving rare and medium rare burgers. According to the Irish Times:

The meat in its burgers, sourced from Dublin butcher Pat McLoughlin, is fully traceable. The burgers are shaped by hand on the premises using 100 per cent beef..In a statement this week, Macken said he considered this “over-regulation”, but nevertheless Jo’burger has removed its disclaimer and now serves all of its burgers medium to well done. It is fully compliant with the HSE advice.

Goodness knows what they would do with Steak Tartare.

When people in the future become faced with a risk, however small, but a risk nevertheless, it is not that they will demand the freedom to make a choice; it will simply never occur to them that they have one.

2 comments:

Brian said...

If only the food hygiene prodnoses had been in charge of regulating the banking industry. If only anyone had....
PS That's a lovely photo of Brian Cowan from his good side.

Foxy Brown said...

Will the new ruling apply to Michelin-Starred restaurants?