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?
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Because you don’t hold it in your mouth for several hours before swallowing it. It takes a few hours of sitting out at room temperature for meat to become unsafe to eat, when you put it in your mouth you usually chew it up and swallow it within a few seconds (or minutes if it is really chewy). After that point unless the bacteria on the meat had already multiplied enough to produce harmful toxins in the meat, then your stomach acid and immune system can usually handle it without developing severe symptoms.
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