Dangers Associated with Eating Raw Meat

You must have come across quite a number of articles that advocate the goodness and health benefits of eating raw meat. I do agree to some of their claims because heat processing in fact has an effect on certain heat sensitive nutrients which might destroy them. However, scrutinizing the larger set-up reveals that the danger associated with raw meat consumption is far more intense than the benefits it offers.

While primary contamination might occur in the animal before it is slaughtered, the chances of contagion are very high during the processing and curing of the product. Millions of cases of food related illnesses are reported every year from across the globe and nearly all are caused due to microbial contamination. The best and most effective way to cut the risk of getting infected is to cook the meat at temperatures that are considered effective to kill the pathogens that cause illnesses when consumed. An internal cooking temperature of 145 °F to 165 °F is considered safe for most meats.

The common pathogens found in raw meats that might cause serious illnesses when ingested are:

E. coli: Meat can become contaminated during the slaughtering process. It is most widely found to contaminate ground meat. When ingested, the infection results in symptoms such as vomiting, abdominal cramping and bloody diarrhea.

Salmonella: It is commonly found to contaminate the raw animal products. Humans are infected when they consume raw meat. The symptoms begin to appear 12 to 48 hours after the exposure and mostly consist of abdominal cramping and diarrhea with fever.

Campylobacter jejuni: It is a major cause of food-borne diarrhea and is accountable for most cases of gastroenteritis across the world. C. jejuni is considered particularly dangerous as it can enter the bloodstream and cause serious complications. The symptoms are similar to infections caused by other pathogens, which are abdominal cramping, vomiting, diarrhea which may or may not contain blood.   These symptoms precipitate within 2 to 7 days of ingesting the contaminated meat and may last for over a week.

Listeria monocytogenes: This bacterium, unlike the others can survive the cold temperatures of the refrigerator. Its common symptoms are stiff neck, weakness, vomiting and diarrhea. Fever is also a common symptom associated with L. monocytogenes contamination. It can easily be destroyed by cooking the meat at the appropriate internal temperature.

Ebola virus: The most recent and much talked about pathogen, which also happens to be life threatening, is Ebola. A person may get it on consuming raw meat (mostly bush meat) from an infected animal. Ebola is moderately thermolabile and is destroyed by heating the infected food at 60 °C, for 45 to 60 minutes.

In most cases, except Ebola infection which might take longer to recover, the symptoms subside with time and appropriate treatment. However, the individuals at risk are small children, the elderly and those who have a compromised immune system, who find it hard to fight the infection and may develop serious complications. It is therefore recommended to cook the meat and other non-vegetarian foods at appropriate temperatures to avoid complications that might precipitate as a result of microbial contamination.