Posted: November 19th, 2007 - 8:33am by Ben Chapman

In a more systematic approach to a visually-safe burger, three teenagers in Pennsylvania have taken an Annie Leibowitz-like approach to fast food cooking by comparing safe temperatures and photographs.  The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that:

Above a stove, the girls mounted a camera that took a picture every 30 seconds. They measured how much each burger shrank during cooking, and recorded the size when it reached the proper temperature. Aided by computer software designed to measure geometric shapes, they calculated the percentage of shrinkage for various brands of frozen patties. And then they tested the finding by injecting raw burgers with E. coli.

The principal investigator, Naomi Collipp, suggested that "It pretty much worked every time."

Interesting idea, but seems like it's drastically more complicated than having thermometers everywhere. I do like the thinking-outside-of-the-box nature of the project though -- thermometers might not get used in every kitchen and maybe a grill-mounted camera snapping pictures burgers leads to safer food. Would be interesting to see how fat content impacts their findings.

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