RAW MEAT

Adam writes...
How come we can't eat raw meat? I mean, I know there are germs and stuff on it, but humans used to be able to eat uncooked animals way back in the day. All other carnivores can eat raw meat. Why do we have to burn ours? If you don't give me a convincing answer, I'm going to eat an entire raw pig.

We can eat raw meat. People do it every day. Sushi? Steak tartar? Oysters on the half shell? They are all raw and they are eaten every day. I assume the question is why can we get sick from eating raw meat when other animals don't.
The simple answer to that is tolerance and immunity to the bacteria and parasites in the meat. Salmonella, trichinosis, and tape worms are all diseases we can get from organisms living in animals that are killed when the meat is cooked. Meat is not the only thing that will make you sick. Travel the world and there are many places that you will get sick from drinking the water. Animals can drink the same water and they are not susceptible to those diseases. Local people drink that same water and don't get sick. They have built up immunities to those organisms.



Many people believe that Kashrut, or Jewish dietary laws, are simply primitive health regulations that have become obsolete with modern methods of food preparation. Pork and shellfish present health problems if not handled and prepared properly. E. coli, which is one of the most common problems with eating raw beef, does not live in the meat. It lives in the intestines and can be transferred to the surface of the meat during processing. Once you have cleaned the outside of the meat and separated it from the area of processing, you can fairly safely eat it raw. Mistakes can happen, especially in large meat processing centers. Even with strict guidelines being followed, e. coli can pop up, so why take a chance?