Consumer advisory for raw or undercooked food: menu wording templates for eggs, burgers and raw fish
Eggs over easy. A burger cooked medium. A poke bowl, a house aioli made with raw yolks, a Caesar dressing, a tiramisu. Plenty of café and restaurant menus have something raw or undercooked on them, and the FDA Food Code asks for a consumer advisory wherever guests choose those items.
The rule is short, but it's easy to get half right: the asterisk on the printed menu and nothing on the menu board, or a footnote that never made it to online ordering. This post gives you the rule, wording you can copy, and a review sheet for every place guests order.
General information, not legal advice. Quotes are from the FDA Food Code 2022, checked against the 2026 edition. Your state or county adopts its own edition and may word the advisory differently; use its version if it has one.
When you need one
The Code's trigger: "if an animal FOOD such as beef, EGGS, FISH, lamb, milk, pork, POULTRY, or shellfish is served or sold raw, undercooked, or without otherwise being processed to eliminate pathogens, either in READY-TO-EAT form or as an ingredient in another READY-TO-EAT FOOD, the PERMIT HOLDER shall inform CONSUMERS of the significantly increased RISK of consuming such FOODS" (§3-603.11(A)).
It's done "by way of a DISCLOSURE and REMINDER", "using brochures, deli case or menu advisories, label statements, table tents, placards, or other effective written means" (§3-603.11(A)).
The cooking rules explain when a partly cooked dish is allowed at all. A food such as "raw EGG, raw FISH, raw-marinated FISH, raw MOLLUSCAN SHELLFISH, or steak tartare; or a partially cooked FOOD such as lightly cooked FISH, soft cooked EGGS, or rare MEAT" may be served "upon CONSUMER request or selection" when, among other conditions, the consumer is informed under §3-603.11 (§3-401.11(D)). Two of those conditions matter for most cafés:
- Children's menus: the food, if chosen from a children's menu, "does not contain COMMINUTED MEAT" (§3-401.11(D)(2)). No medium burgers for kids.
- Highly susceptible populations: the exception doesn't apply where you serve a highly susceptible population (§3-401.11(D)(1)), such as a hospital, nursing home or child care center. If your café is inside one, ask your inspector first.
One exception: outside highly susceptible populations, a whole-muscle, intact beef steak can be served rare without the advisory if it's cooked on both the top and bottom to a surface temperature of 145°F and "a cooked color change is achieved on all external surfaces" (§3-401.11(C)).
The two parts
Disclosure says which items. It "shall include" either "A description of the animal-derived FOODS, such as 'oysters on the half shell (raw oysters),' 'raw-EGG Caesar salad,' and 'hamburgers (can be cooked to order)'", or "Identification of the animal-derived FOODS by asterisking them to a footnote that states that the items are served raw or undercooked, or contain (or may contain) raw or undercooked ingredients" (§3-603.11(B)).
Reminder says why it matters. It means "asterisking the animal-derived FOODS requiring DISCLOSURE to a footnote that states" one of three things (§3-603.11(C)):
- "Regarding the safety of these items, written information is available upon request"
- "Consuming raw or undercooked MEATS, POULTRY, seafood, shellfish, or EGGS may increase your RISK of foodborne illness"
- "Consuming raw or undercooked MEATS, POULTRY, seafood, shellfish, or EGGS may increase your RISK of foodborne illness, especially if you have certain medical conditions"
Options 2 and 3 need nothing more than the footnote. Option 1 means you must actually have the written information ready to hand over.
Where it goes. The FDA's guidance in Annex 3 says disclosure and reminder "belong at the point where the food is selected by the consumer. Both the disclosure and the reminder need to accompany the information from which the consumer makes a selection." That's every menu, board and screen, not just one.
Wording you can copy
Printed menu (asterisk and footnote)
Two Eggs Any Style* · Smash Burger, cooked to order* · Salmon Poke Bowl* \*These items are served raw or undercooked, or contain (or may contain) raw or undercooked ingredients. Consuming raw or undercooked meats, poultry, seafood, shellfish, or eggs may increase your risk of foodborne illness, especially if you have certain medical conditions.
Printed menu (described in the item, plus the reminder)
Caesar Salad (made with raw egg)* · Eggs Benedict (soft-poached eggs)* \*Consuming raw or undercooked meats, poultry, seafood, shellfish, or eggs may increase your risk of foodborne illness.
Menu board or screen: the asterisk and the footnote on the same board or the same slide as the items, readable from where guests order.
Online ordering and delivery apps: in the item description, for example: Cooked to order. Consuming raw or undercooked meats, poultry, seafood, shellfish, or eggs may increase your risk of foodborne illness. Guests in an app see the item, not the bottom of your menu, so put it in each item.
Specials board: add the asterisk to the special and keep a small printed footnote fixed to the board, so it's there whatever gets written on it.
Catering menu or quote: in the description of each package that includes the item.
Pastry case or deli labels: tiramisu, mousse or anything with raw eggs gets a label with both parts.
Fix the recipe instead?
Sometimes the easier answer is to change the item. The advisory covers food served "without otherwise being processed to eliminate pathogens", so ask your inspector whether these take an item off your list:
- Pasteurized eggs for aioli, Caesar dressing, tiramisu and mousse.
- Cooking eggs to order to 145°F for 15 seconds, the Code's temperature for "Raw EGGS that are broken and prepared in response to a CONSUMER'S order and for immediate service" (§3-401.11(A)(1)(a)). Ask the cook which of your egg styles get there.
- Burgers cooked through only. Ground beef is comminuted meat; the Code's cooking temperature for it is 155°F for 17 seconds, or a time and temperature from its chart (§3-401.11(A)(2)).
The menu review sheet
Go through every place a guest can order, at least whenever the menu changes.
Where guests choose | Raw or undercooked items on it | Disclosure there? | Reminder there? | Fixed by / date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Printed menu | Yes / No | Yes / No | ||
Menu board or screens (each slide) | Yes / No | Yes / No | ||
Specials board | Yes / No | Yes / No | ||
Website menu | Yes / No | Yes / No | ||
Online ordering (each item) | Yes / No | Yes / No | ||
Each delivery app (each item) | Yes / No | Yes / No | ||
Catering menu and quotes | Yes / No | Yes / No | ||
Pastry case or deli labels | Yes / No | Yes / No | ||
Kids' menu: no undercooked ground meat | n/a | n/a |
Add a line for the advisory to your menu change rollout checklist, so a new special doesn't go out without it.
What staff say
- Asked for it runny or medium-rare: "Yes. Just so you know, eggs (or burgers) cooked that way carry a higher risk of foodborne illness; it's on the menu by the asterisk." Then ring it with the cook temperature or "runny" modifier, so the ticket shows it.
- Asked whether there's raw egg in it: know the answer for every item; it's the same list as your advisory. Keep it next to the allergen matrix.
- If you use reminder option 1, everyone on the counter knows where the written information is kept.
Where Mays fits
- Menu boards on your screens. With digital signage, each image or video in a playlist plays in turn, so put the asterisked items and their footnote on the same image. Mays has no board templates; design the board in a design app and upload it. See Signage media and playlists and Digital signage.
- Catering quotes. The Description and What's included you write for a package under Catering → Packages show on the quote page the customer picks from, so put the advisory there for packages that need it.
- The item list for staff. Keep "which items have raw or undercooked ingredients" in the Knowledge Base, and an admin can make a short quiz from it under Learning → Modules. See Knowledge base basics and Creating training modules.
- A check on the board. Add "Specials board has the asterisk and footnote" to the opening checklist with a Photo answer. See Creating a checklist template.
What Mays doesn't do: recipes and menu items have no "raw or undercooked" flag, and Mays doesn't publish your menu or push descriptions to your POS or delivery apps, so the review sheet stays a manual check.
Disclose, remind, everywhere
Mark the items, add the reminder, and check every place a guest orders. Then the guest who wants a runny yolk gets one, knowingly, and your inspector sees the same advisory on the board as on the menu.
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