Why An Undercooked Wendy's Burger Is Causing A Commotion On Reddit

There are certain things you expect every time you walk into your nearest Wendy's for your routine Baconator and traditional frosty: the chocolatey treat is icy cool, the bacon is piled high on those meat patties, and most importantly, those beef squares are cooked enough for safe consumption.

Those standards seem highly attainable since last year alone, the popular fast food chain surpassed Burger King as the second most popular burger joint in America, according to an annual sales comparison in 2021 (via Forbes). The reason for Wendy's continued success is due to its lifelong guarantee of fresh accessible foods to new and loyal customers. While digital marketing and its new loyalty program helped the fast food chain interact more with customers during and after 2020, the freshness factor is a firm motto the company has imparted over the last 50 years and reiterates time and time again as the key marker for its success in an ever-changing market (per QSR).

This freshness guarantee also extends to "fresh, never-frozen beef" and Wendy's believes this longstanding guarantee gives them a leg up over competitors like McDonald's who were new to the fresh beef game as of 2017 (per The SQUARE deal). While having fresh beef has its benefits, there can also be drawbacks. A few days ago one Wendy's customer experienced a less-than-cooked burger and turned to Reddit to vent.

A few days ago, one Reddit user posted a picture of their pinkish Dave's Triple mid-meal and asked fellow Redditors the likelihood of getting sick from the few bites already swallowed. While some users didn't even address the obviously pink topmost patty, claiming the triple was reserved for those on low-carb diets, most of the comments fell back on the poster for simply receiving a "medium burger."

One user stated their chances of getting sick are very minimal claiming "beef does not need to be fully cooked." While research shows eating raw beef can cause food poisoning due to harmful bacteria like E. Coli and Salmonella (via Healthline), a few users remained firm in their comments regarding the normalcy of eating a half-cooked burger. According to Business Insider, 29% of Americans prefer a medium patty.

A few Redditors did throw down some helpful advice when it came to detecting food poisoning and with good measure since this isn't the first time someone received a less-than-done burger from Wendy's. Not only does the definition of "doneness" vary but there were also less than savory employee accusations that Wendy's sold expired meat last year. Wendy's may be serving up fresh beef burgers, but for some social media users, freshness doesn't matter when you're biting into raw meat.