While food poisoning, from the consumption of raw or undercooked food, can be averted with proper safety measures, dining out leaves you vulnerable to poor restaurant practices.

Medium-rare burgers in restaurants are often cooked to a lower temperature than what is recommended by the CDC and the FDA, making them a potentially riskier choice.

As per the Webstaurant Store, medium-rare burgers are cooked to 130 to 135 degrees. However, the FDA food code cautions that ground beef cooked below 155 degrees may be unsafe.

Additionally, many restaurants don’t follow the best food safety practices, like keeping the refrigerator at the correct temperature, which can lead to contamination and poisoning.

When meat isn’t cooked to a high enough temperature and cross-contamination occurs, it can encourage germs and foodborne illnesses, including Salmonella, E. Coli, and Yersinia.

If you want to reduce your chances of getting sick while eating a burger from a restaurant, order your burger medium-well or well-done. You can also opt for irradiated ground beef.