why is it okay to eat beef/steak at a lower temperature than chicken and other meats?
In: Biology
Every species of animal has its own selection of pathogens that can live on/in it. Broadly speaking, cows don’t harbor that many bacteria, viruses, or parasites that are harmful to humans. The main threat from beef is that bacteria get on the outer surfaces during butchering and can slowly multiply even while refrigerated. This is why a rare or medium rare steak, with an internal temperature around 120F is *usually* OK to eat.
Chickens and pigs harbor considerably more harmful germs. But many types of fish essentially have no harmful germs, which is why the miracle of sushi exists.
Also, if you heat a plate full of of assorted bacteria to 165F in one minute, a lot of them are still going to be alive. A lot less after 10 minutes at that temperature, and almost none after 20 or 30. So when we say *”you should cook X meat to Y temperature”,* there are some assumptions about time built in about how long it has taken to get there. It’s not just that getting to the right temperature magically kills the germs, it’s the fact that you’ve spent a lot of time at hot-but-not-quite-hot-enough temperatures too.
Does pork really need to be 150 degrees to kill all the bad stuff? Not really. 130 or so is probably fine. But by cooking it to 150 you ensure that the meat has been *at least* 130 degrees for long enough to kill the stuff that dies at 130 degrees.
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