I know red meats are usually safe to eat when not fully cooked, and often preferred to be eaten when not cooked all the way through. What makes poultry specifically more prone to passing along bacteria than other meats?
In: Biology
[Here](https://youtu.be/cL9RyGqwcbA?si=xpBVBOgY3tLJzbk2) is a good video that explains this. Also, just a great channel to follow for recipes/food science.
The big danger in eating raw beef is e. coli which is a bacteria that lives in the cow’s gut; as long as the cow’s entrails are not pierced during the slaughter process and the cow is healthy, the chances of getting e. coli are relatively low, and if it is contaminated, cooking the exterior of the meat will kill it. That’s why it’s safe to eat a rare steak ground beef isn’t as safe. The danger in eating raw chicken is salmonella which also lives in the chicken’s gut. Chickens are tiny compared to cows, and they have much more delicate entrails. They blast through the processing line at a chicken processing plan in a manner of seconds so the chances of a worker accidentally piercing the chicken’s guts are much higher compared to a cow which weighs as much as a Mazda Miata. Secondly, since it’s a generally accepted practice in America to eat undercooked beef, if USDA inspectors find e. coli contamination in beef, it can no longer be sold raw to the consumer, but it can be an ingredient in a cooked product like frozen meatballs. No such protection exists for chicken, because it’s not an accepted practice to eat undercooked chicken.
Animals with large dense cuts of meat are usually prepared in several stages. The butchery can order large pieces of it and cut it into retail sized pieces at the point of sale. As long as these large pieces are not cut into, there is much less chance for contamination on the inside. This is why high heat on the outside to destroy bacteria on cut surfaces is generally safe enough and the internal of the meat doesn’t have to be fully cooked through.
Poultry animals are small so they tend to be processed in “one factory”. So the slaughtering, de feathering, removing the innards and then cutting into retail sized pieces all happen in close proximity. Because of this the risk of contamination is higher. Because the meat are in small pieces (rarely more than two inches thickness), things like tears, nicks and small cuts that happen during processing allow bacteria to penetrate all the way into the meat. This is why cooking the meat thoroughly is highly recommended.
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