Brian Ochieng

Isn't Eating Under-cooked Meat Bad For You?

When it comes to things like chicken, pork and ground beef, yes, definitely! But the risk for steak is different. If a cut of steak is going to have any bacteria, it's just about always going to be on the outside. Steak doesn't contain the parasites that plague chickens and pigs. However, the outside should be cooked and handled with clean instruments.

Ground beef, on the other hand, is going to have bacteria spread throughout. You are more likely to get E. Coli by eating under-cooked ground beef. Go for a well-done hamburger.

Our biggest worry with chicken meat is salmonella. It's very common for chickens to carry salmonella, which permeates its flesh. The only way to kill the salmonella is to thoroughly cook the chicken meat.

Under-cooked pork is potentially even worse than under-cooked chicken. There's a risk of developing trichinosis as a result of eating under-cooked pork... if the pig was infected the larvae of a trichina worm.