Was I right not to eat this steak? (Pic)

[JulyDreams]

Went to restaurant tonight. Ordered steak well done as I am 30 weeks pregnant. Came like this after opening it up. Looked worse in person, the photos don't show it as pink as it was in the restaurant. I was nice enough and just asked at the end to have it taken off.

Was I right I'm not eating this? Waitress was very polite and agreed to take it off bill for us although didn't say much about how it was cooked....? DP said it looked 'ok'

This is not true. Fair enough that people make their own risk assessment, but please don’t give out incorrect advice.

The NHS guidance clearly states meat should be cooked through. Not just mince and sausages. If people chose to ignore that advice that is their choice. But they should at least be armed with the guidance and not some BS from an unqualified random on the internet.

Midwife told me as long as it's sealed on the outside it's fine as bacteria in beef are only where it's in contact with the air

Not sure how many times this needs to be said, but it’s not bacteria that’s the issue here. It’s toxoplasmosis which is a parasite.

And it’s pretty worrying that a midwife is so clueless.

The midwife might be speaking from the pov of never having seen a case of toxoplasmosis in their career.

I wouldn't have ate it either. It probably wouldn't have done anything but not worth the worry.

You say you don't like confrontation, but surely it takes more confrontation to complain at the end and ask for a refund than it does to send it back to the kitchen during the meal (I get that you tried but failed to get their attention).

Lots of people send food back to the kitchen but I wouldn't have thought many wait until the end and ask for it to be knocked off the bill when they'd not said anything. So that means more confrontation is required because it's more normal to send it back sooner rather than later.

You did the right thing. I’m surprised at some of the replies you’ve had. There’s often an awareness about pregnant women not cleaning litter trays, but actually undercooked meat is a far more common and likely method to catch toxoplasmosis.

I would consider that well done.

Not eating rare steak is one of the extremely few food rules I don't follow as a) the risk is tiny, and b) steak is such a rare treat for me (I've had it once this whole pregnancy so far) that I wouldn't ruin it by overcooking it.

Yabu. If the outside is seared it’s fine. Enjoy the iron.

Apologies I did not know this when I was pregnant!