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

Even under ideal circumstances, the generation time of fast growing bacteria is like 20 minutes. You’re not going to grow bacteria during the time it takes you to chew your food and swallow it, then it gets dunked in stomach acid and digested by enzymes.