Explain why there is no such thing as a safe form of rare or raw meat?

Question

include any bacterial or fungal organisms.

Answer 1

bacteria will grow rapidly at any temp between 40 and 140 degrees F, rare or raw meat is typically between these temperatures resulting in lots of bacteria

Answer 2

First, raw meat is safely eaten by millions. The best example is steak tartare, but there are many other examples. As long as the meat is safely handled, the risk is minimal.

Cooking kills most bacteria and fungi. It also denatures most protein, which can often (not always) destroy toxins released by pathogens. Cooking will NOT destroy prions, so cooked or not, diseases like Creutzfeld-Jacob Disease and Kuru are still a risk.

The big risk with bacterial pathogens is E.coli 0157:H7, a strain of E. coli that causes Hamburger Disease and was responsible for the tragedy at Walkerton Ontario (http://www.cfpc.ca/cfp/2002/Oct/vol48-oc... Salmonella is also a risk, but mainly with poultry. In terms of source, most bacterial contamination occurs during slaughter.

In terms of fungi, the risk is mainly secreted toxins, not the organism itself.

There are also a number of protozoans, such as tricnosis and  tapeworms, that can contaminate meat (http://www.fray.com/drugs/worm/).