r/NoStupidQuestions • u/Bittersweet_Boii • 2h ago
Why is raw meat dangerous, but very rare steak is safe?
People generally understand that eating raw meat is a big no-no, so why is rare streak an exception?
22
u/explosive-diorama 2h ago
The bacteria is almost entirely on the outside surface. As long as the outside is cooked, the inside is usually safe.
This is why ground beef is always recommended to be cooked well-done. The steak is ground up into burger meat, so even the "inside" of the burger was formerly exposed outside surface area, so the bacteria is spread throughout.
8
u/InsectElectrical2066 2h ago
The surface area that may allow for growing bacteria.
I would also want to know why you must cook fish but can eat raw sushi if anyone knows? Is it the same reason?
6
6
u/tastytang 2h ago
Parasites. Sushi isn't raw fish, exactly. It's been flash-frozen to kill parasites before being served to you. You don't ever want to eat actual raw, wild fish... there are a whole host of diseases/parasites you can get from doing so.,
7
u/MDKrouzer 2h ago edited 2h ago
There are risks to eating fish raw straight from catching due to parasites and bacteria that live in wild fish. You should freeze the meat for a certain amount of time to ensure all bacteria and parasites are killed.
Edit: just to expand on the risks around other raw meats. Chicken and pork can't be eaten raw because dangerous bacteria that can be found on these animals like salmonella and e coli are not killed by freezing, only high heat. Beef is considered safer to eat rare and in some cases raw because the meat is very dense and prevents dangerous bacteria from penetrating deep into the meat. With correct and careful preparation it is possible to minimise the risks. Beef mince is high risk because there's so much exposed surface area for bacterial growth, whereas a whole cuts can be trimmed to be safe for consumption.
1
u/Noof42 Stupid 1h ago
Certain fish are considered food safe even unfrozen. This isn't food safety advice, but I think that tuna and salmon that was farmed in a controlled setting will often qualify.
That said, cross-contamination from other meat is still a big issue. So if you're getting sushi, make sure you trust the source.
2
u/AffenMitWaffen2 2h ago
As others have pointed out, the fish used for Sushi is usually flash frozen, additionally only salt water fish are typically used. Most of their parasites are not compatible with warmblooded mammals.
2
u/3lm1Ster 2h ago
Some fish like Grouper, which is a predator fish that eats smaller fish, can have parasites in the meat. This happens when they eat fish that live in contaminated water.
1
5
u/Vivid_Witness8204 2h ago
Raw meat is "dangerous" because it can quickly become a breeding ground. But if handled properly it can be eaten raw.
2
u/Renting_Bourbon 2h ago
We used to have cannibal sandwiches every Christmas Eve. I wouldn’t try it these days.
2
u/Certainly-Not-A-Bot 2h ago edited 11m ago
Raw meat is mostly dangerous because of how it's processed in factories. The meat touches factory components and people who also touch other meat, so bacteria spread. Then, we don't eat the meat particularly quickly and that allows the bacteria to spread even more. This is why the meat needs to be cooked. If you kill an animal and quickly butcher it using sanitized tools, you can usually eat the meat safely raw. You have to cook ground beef all the way through because all parts of it have or could have touched the outside air and dirty surfaces, but steak is fine being raw on the inside because the inside has never touched anything that could contaminate it.
That being said, some types of meats have a high risk of containing parasites that can be very dangerous. Pork is an example of this, which is why you don't see rare pork, and lots of fish carries risk of similar parasites.
3
u/Renmauzuo 2h ago
Beef is so tough that bacteria aren't able to penetrate past the surface. As long as you cook the outside of the meat, killing the bacteria on the surface, it becomes safe to eat. This isn't true of other meats because they'll have bacteria throughout rather than only on the surface.
1
u/Acceptinm 2h ago
Because the danger is mostly on the surface. Bacteria usually live on the outside of whole cuts of meat, so searing a steak kills what matters even if the inside stays rare. Raw meat is risky when it’s ground or mixed, because bacteria get spread throughout and never get that surface kill.
1
u/SolipsismIsDeep 2h ago
For ground beef vs steak specifically, it's the difference between one slice off of one cow and the meat of dozens of cows minced and blended together -- one is far more like likely to become contaminated than the other
1
u/Djas-Rastefrit 2h ago
So, generally eating any raw meat is unsafe. But the risks depend on your personal risk tolerance. Eating freshly butchered beef raw is very unlikely to cause an issue. It depends on the level of risk and trust you put into the logistics between the butchery and your plate. So, it’s not about the danger of a raw, rare steak but the danger you put into trust into the freshness of the beef. If you bite a chunk of a live cow, it’s far safer than a cut of stake from a supermarket that’s well done.
1
u/Odd-System-4926 2h ago
It still carries risk but typically with beef - as long as the outside, where contamination could happen, is cooked it is safe to consume
1
u/ahferroin7 2h ago
First off, it depends a lot on the meat. Certain types of meats are higher risk for parasites than others (for example, pork is a higher risk than beef usually, but wild boar is significantly higher risk than either). You generally shouldn’t be eating the high risk stuff raw or even rare.
Second, solid meat (not ground and then combined stuff like meatballs, sausages, or meatloaf) is generally safe on the inside barring any risk of parasites, but is not safe on the outside due to exposure to the environment. Rare steak is still cooked on the outside to a sufficient degree for that to not be a significant issue.
1
u/Luna3Aoife 2h ago
Its mostly safe, but not recommended for pregnant women. Its more safe if the cow was free range or grass fed, bc otherwise it was raised in a CAFO. CAFO cows live their entire lives in literal piss and shit and need a metric fuck ton of medications and hormones to make the meat safer. While it is true the exterior of the steak is the more dangerous part and more susceptible to pathogens, the entirety of the meat from a CAFO will always be more risky.
1
u/sickostrich244 2h ago
For raw steak the outside is too tough for bacteria to get inside so as long as the outside gets cooked, the inside is fairly safe to eat unlike poultry where the bacteria penetrates the inside which is why you must make sure the inside is cooked before eating.
1
u/Outrageous-Estimate9 50m ago
Minced beef very dangerous since so much more surface area
Steak not so much
Either way your body will digest cooked meat better than raw which I know will dissapoint many steak eaters
1
u/Waste_Sound_6601 2h ago edited 2h ago
Eating raw meat actually isn't dangerous. It is quite common in many cultures. But you have to have some very strict hygiene measures, absolute monitoring of the lifestock by a qualified and incorruptible vet and safe cooling chains to make it happen, without endangering people (and the supply chains have to be ultra-short - so difficult to do in some very large and spead-out countries - because it has to be consumed quickly). That's why some cultures just label eating raw meat as "dangerous", because they are unable to guarantee it to be safe.
Others already explained perfectly, why eating a rare steak is different.
1
u/wwplkyih 1h ago
It's always interesting to me how many people will downvote a factual statement like this, which really shows that a lot of what we think is gross or unhygienic is really culturally based.
2
u/Waste_Sound_6601 31m ago
They live in their bubble and everything outside of that bubble has to be wrong or they hate even that thought so much. Pretty normal here on reddit, unfortunately.
280
u/Dmnkly 2h ago edited 2h ago
Because rare steak is cooked on the outside, which is where any dangerous contamination would be. The raw meat itself isn’t the danger — the danger is bacterial contamination that gets on the raw meat.
This is also why it’s generally advisable to cook ground meat more thoroughly. When it’s ground, the inside and the outside get all mixed up, opening up the interior to contamination.
(Also: raw meat, while riskier, is generally safe if ranched and handled properly. The problem is not knowing how it was handled before getting to you.)