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
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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