What makes certain animal meats ok to eat raw (fish), while others are not so much (chicken)?
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Partly it is the characteristic of the animal itself – what environment it grows in, etc and partly (or even mostly) about what is done to process the meat of the animal.
Sushi grade fish is caught and frozen immediately. This tends to kill of the parasites which are the main danger to humans. Chickens, on the other hand, tend to be grown and fed in conditions where they can pick up many pathogens that are bad for humans. So it isn’t just “they’re all animals and all animals are the same”
Chickens in particular, tend to be processed in great quantities for them to be economically viable. So the conditions for slaughter and processing invariably end up “grouping” and doing lots of things that can spread pathogens from one carcass to another. The other issue is that chickens are small – so it is really hard to restrict contamination across all their surfaces. The safe approach, therefore, is to recommend cooking chicken thoroughly. Now modern processing and sanitation probably means that the risk of contamination is already fairly low, but it is simply not wise to count on it.
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