What do I have to do when heating up meat products such as frozen fried cake of minced meat?

- When using cooked meat products such as frozen fried cake of minced meat, carefully check the "cooking instructions" given on the product packaging.

- When cooking, do not judge whether the food is cooked from the color of the surface, browning color or size of flame; check the center of the meat to make sure it is sufficiently cooked.

- If you use a frying pan, etc., to reduce the amount of oil needed to fry, you should take note that the temperature in the center of the meat dish may increase slower.

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[Past cases of food poisoning]

Food poisoning from frozen fried cake of minced meat that required heating occurred in some local governments including the Tokyo Metropolitan in 2016.

Studies of these food poisoning cases have shown that in some cases, products that required cooking well were eaten without applying enough heat.

[Check the packaging carefully before cooking]

Some meat products sold frozen (fried cake of minced meat, hamburger steak, chicken cutlet, etc.) are not precooked at the time of manufacture; such products are labeled “Uncooked”, some are not.

Also, bacteria that cause food poisoning usually survives freezing.

To prevent food poisoning caused by frozen meat products, first check the "cooking instructions", "using instructions", and "whether it requires cooking" of the product packaging before cooking.

[When cooking, be sure to check the color of the meat in the center.]

When you prepare your meat, first check the "cooking instructions" on the product packaging and prepare it accordingly. Finally, make sure to cut the product to see the color of the meat in the center.

[Special attention should be paid to frying.]

In case of frying, the utensils, amount of oil, number of items that can be cooked at once, way of cooking, the condition of flame required to cook through to the center, etc., differ according to the product; even if you follow the cooking instructions, the food may not be cooked all the way to the center, so you need to pay special attention to this.

Recently, a recipe for frying with a small amount of oil has been introduced. When frying with a small amount of oil in a frying pan, however, the temperature of the oil during cooking gets much lower than when deep-frying with a large amount of oil and the central temperature increases more gradually.

As was stated before, regardless of the frying color on the surface, always cut to see the color of the meat in the center.

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Reference site

• Bureau of Public Health, Tokyo Metropolitan Government "To those eating and drinking establishments that plan to start takeout and delivery service"