If meat must be kept at low or high temperatures in order to avoid growth of harmful bacteria, why is it safe to eat cold meat? Shouldn’t the temperature of our mouths bring the meat to a lukewarm temperature, thereby promoting the growth of harmful bacteria?

Question

If meat must be kept at low or high temperatures in order to avoid growth of harmful bacteria, why is it safe to eat cold meat? Shouldn’t the temperature of our mouths bring the meat to a lukewarm temperature, thereby promoting the growth of harmful bacteria?

In: Other

Answer 1

Tbf, it’s not entirely safe to eat meat, exactly because it promotes the fast growth of potentially harmful bacteria (also known as: it quickly rots) while it’s inside you.

Carnivore animals have shorter, quicker digestive system than herbivores exactly as a way to minimize that risk. The least time the eaten flesh stays inside their body, the better for them. The body wants all that out asap. (So, it’s not just that plants take, on average, longer to digest.)