RAW MEAT AND RAW POULTRY
Let's get one thing very clear. RAW meat can be expected to contain vast amounts of bacteria that are present on the meat mostly from the slaughtering process, where hides (frequently containing dried manure) contaminate the carcass as it is hung, skinned, and eviscerated.
Most of these bacteria are "spoilage" types, causing decay, not illness, but we can also assume some pathogens (disease-producers) to be present as well. These include (among many others): Salmonella and Campylobacter in poultry, Escherichia coli in beef and pork, and Yersinia enterocolitica in pork.
What happens if you leave raw meat unrefrigerated? Well, it starts to decay a little faster, or a lot faster if the temperature is warmer. That decay process is due to those spoilage bacteria multiplying at a very high rate. They don't cause illness, just an unpleasant slimy texture on the surface, colour changes, and a very distinct sour smell. It may surprise you to know that if you cooked it and ate it (some folks actually prefer the "gamy" taste of a carcass in early stages of putrefaction), you would NOT be at increased risk for illness. Those pathogenic bacteria have been overgrown or "swamped" by the spoilage organisms. And because the meat is fully cooked, they have been destroyed. The famous toxins of Staphylococcus and Bacillus are threats on COOKED meats, not raw meats, and Bacteria causing botulism require intensive anaerobic (oxygen-free) environments to grow).
TAKEAWAY FACT #1: The evidence is very clear: Raw meat causes illnesses through cross-contamination (any contact between the raw meat or juices, via hands, chopping boards, or utensils, with READY-TO-EAT foods such as salads, cooked meats, sandwiches, desserts, etc.
TAKEAWAY FACT #2: The evidence is also very clear that UNDERCOOKING or INCOMPLETE cooking of meats - especially ground-meat/hamburger/sausage-meat is the most common cause of illness from meat.*
TAKEAWAY FACT #3: Raw meats that are not refrigerated do not cause food-borne illness! In many parts of the world, butcher shops are in the open-air, unrefrigerated, with meat being hung all day. This does not cause illness because the meat will be fully cooked. In fact we have searched through the annual records of food-borne disease investigations, thousands of them, and we have yet to find ONE instance where raw meat - unrefrigerated - was the cause of illness.
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For example, read the account of illnesses and deaths from undercooked hamburgers at a national fast-food chain in 1982 here.
Q: A package of lean ground beef (raw) has been out of the refrigerator all day. Is this now dangerous?
Q: I accidentally left a whole uncooked turkey out on the counter overnight. It's been about 12 hours. Do I need to throw it out?
A: It's probably absolutely safe to cook and consume! Remember that raw meat "tells" you if it is OK. Open the packaging, and examine the meat. Does it smell just like any fresh meat (or is there a strong sour smell)? Is the colour what you'd expect (not greenish)? Is the surface normal (or covered with a slimy film)? If your meat/poultry passes these tests go ahead. There is nothing unsafe or unhealthy provided you cook it thoroughly, and prevent cross-contamination with boards, utensils, etc.
Q: A package of lean ground beef (raw) has been out of the refrigerator all day. Is this now dangerous?
A: Ground meats (including hamburger patties, meatballs, and fresh sausage) have a very high concentration bacteria all through the product. So this type of meat will start to grow "spoilage" organisms within 2-3 days even in the refrigerator. You will see a colour change (grey/green), and a slimy surface, but most obviously, a strong and unpleasant sour smell. Clearly you would find this unpalatable and discard it. But if this has not happened, you can go ahead; there is nothing that can harm you, even if it had not been refrigerated for many hours or a day or two, provided you cook the meat ALL THROUGH. Everything that can cause illness (E. coli, Salmonella, campylobacter, etc.) are destroyed around 73 degrees C (161 F). No toxin are produced (that's a problem with cooked meats). As always, avoid cross-contamination with other foods, surfaces, hands, etc. A spray bottle with 1 in 4 dilution of domestic bleach (1.6%) is excellent to sterilize all surfaces before washing.
Q: We had four expensive steaks waiting in the refrigerator for the weekend, but the power went off yesterday. I checked with the USDA/FDA and they say 2 hours maximum unrefrigerated. Please advise.
A: Raw meat inspects itself and tells you. If the steaks look, feel, an smell OK, they are 100 percent fine to prepare and enjoy. Any bacterial growth will be 'spoilage' bacteria, that will eventually cause decay, but they quickly overgrow any pathogens present (e.g. enterohemorrhagic E. coli). The cooking will render everything safe. Toxin-producing bacteria do not grow on raw meat, so there's nothing to worry about, but make sure any raw meat doesn't contact or contaminate ready-to-eat foods or preparation surfaces (and wash your hands!) The "advice" from FDA/USDA, CFIA, etc., were originally meant for foods which are able to "support the growth of pathogens or the production of their toxins". Unlike cooked meats, raw meats appear not to support pathogen growth (only spoilage bacteria). But simple blanket statements such as the "2-hour unrefrigerated" rule is unfortunately applied to ALL foods, regardless of any hazard, resulting in confusion and tremendous wastage, with no increased benefit..
Q: I thawed out some chicken thighs for dinner and then went out instead, forgetting to put them back in the fridge. Will they be OK or do I need to discard them?
A: Cut chicken is heavily populated with bacteria. Between 15% and 60% of samples demonstrate Salmonella and Campylobacter present, and these can and do cause illness. However, the meat supports far more spoilage bacteria that continue to grow in the refrigerator (though faster at room temperature). The result is a sour smell, slippery/slimy surface, and colour changes especially around the opening of the cavity. But if these changes have not yet happened, you can prepare, cook, and enjoy the chicken safely. Nothing harmful is going to develop or grow on raw meats, provided you cook and then cool it properly (as you should with poultry in any case). Remember to wash everything it touches with a weak (1 in 4) bleach solution, especially boards, knives, utensils, and countertops. The factors leading to diseases from poultry have always been insufficient cooking, inadequate cooling, and cross-contamination. Poultry cannot cause illness just because the meat was not in the fridge prior to cooking.
Q: When I visited some parts of rural Europe last year, I saw deer, rabbit, and other hunted animals hanging for up to a week in unrefrigerated huts before the meat was prepared. How is it this does not cause illness?
A: This is a traditional way of ageing the meat to tenderize it. With domestic animals, which are slaughtered while at rest, the glycogen still in their muscles after death assists in the complex changes in chemistry and pH that cause rigor mortis to start about 40 minutes after death and last for several days. This tenderizes the meat. Hunted animals frequently have been chased for a time, or have become anxious and exhausted, and have used up the glycogen reserves. As a result they do not undergo normal rigor mortis (they don't "set up"), and the meat remains tough. They are hung for several days or a week, depending upon conditions and preferences. The ageing process also imparts a special "gamey" taste that is preferred by some. The carcass will smell 'ripe', and may even have maggots (fly larvae) appearing on it, but this is not a problem. You can see something similar in North America when a hunter brings back a deer carcass after several days hunting with no refrigeration. Humans have been hunting for hundreds of thousands of years before anyone invented a refrigerator! This did not cause mass extinction of the tribes!
Raw meats do not need to be refrigerated to be safe, although they will last longer and keep their appearance, and characteristics if refrigerated, of course. But (and this is the point) there is no reason to discard raw meat just because it has been unrefrigerated. Decide for yourself if the taste, smell, appearance is acceptable to you, and then go ahead and prepare and cook it properly. As far as we know, no-one has ever become ill from consuming meat that was unrefrigerated while it was raw, and was then properly cooked.
Q: The Jack-in-the-Box hamburger incident involved E. coli bacteria in hamburger meat. How did it get into the meat? and who was to blame for the illnesses and deaths?
A: Excellent question! First a word about the large E. coli group. We all have E. coli in our gut, with the vast majority being harmless, even helpful in digestion. In 1982, we began to isolate some rare types (six, to date) that caused illness. The prototype (EHEC/STEC O157:H7) produced a toxin associated with Shigella bacteria, and this was the strain which caused 732 illnesses and 4 deaths in the 1992-3 JITB outbreak. There would not likely have been an outbreak if the State's requirement for cooking burgers had been followed: 155 F (68.3 C). At that time, the JITB policy was to cook burgers at only 140 F (60 C). Current policies in UK, Canada, USA, are to cook ground meat at 70 C for 2 minutes or 71 C instantly, but even these are being questioned due to heat-resistant strains.
So the answer to the question is that the meat was not cooked well enough. If it had been, the outbreak would have been avoided. We cannot eliminate this bacterium completely from beef cattle, or prevent it showing up from time to time in raw beef products (and occasionally pork). We CAN prevent infections by simply cooking hamburger/ground-meat and sausages properly to at least 71C (160F) all through, or by searing the surfaces of solid cuts of meat to make it safe.
Remember that ground meat or hamburger has bacteria distributed all through the meat, and for this reason, eating "rare" or "medium rare" burgers is a very risky activity, even at home, especially when you consider the complications of these types of E. coli infection: 7-15% develop HUS, and 30% of those sustain long term injury, usually kidney damage; 1-3 percent of HUS patients die.