Worried your burger will look a little too pink? These people can help you cook it right

Want to make sure you don’t ruin your next barbecue with under-cooked meat? Not to worry: You have an expanded resource at your finger tips.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has added two extra hours to its food safety hotline that now is open from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Pacific Time.

The meat and poultry hotline, run by the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service, is staffed by experts who can answer questions about safe storage, handling and preparation of meat, poultry and egg products.

The hotline at 1-888-674-6854 is accompanied by a 24-hour online service known as Ask Karen. You can email your questions in English or Spanish.

More than 3 million people have called in to the hotline since its inception 32 years ago.

“By keeping the hotline open an additional two hours, we are expanding our reach to allow more consumers, including those on the West Coast, to have their food safety questions answered,” said Al Almanza, FSIS administrator.

This story was originally published May 2, 2017 at 3:04 PM with the headline "Worried your burger will look a little too pink? These people can help you cook it right."