If you order a rare steak, then why don't you get sick from the blood?

Answer 1

It is not the blood that makes you sick. You are able to eat raw food and be fine. However, cooking the food kills the bacteria that make you sick and thus makes it more healthy.

Answer 2

There's virtually no blood in any steak. The difference between a rare steak and a well done steak is the amount of water left after cooking. Cooking dries the meat out. The red liquid you see with raw meat is really just protein infused water.

Also, you will never get sick from a steak (unless you have a beef allergy) or the blood for that matter. It's the pathogens that may be in or on the steak.

Answer 3

What I've always understood is that the unhealthy bacteria get into the meat from the air. A rare steak is still cooked to a certain temperature on the edges, which are the only part exposed to the air, thus killing all bacteria on the meat. The middle can be as pink or red as you want it to be and still be healthy because it isn't exposed until you cut into it.
This is why we don't eat meat that hasn't been cooked at all. And it's also why you can get sick from rare hamburgers - the meat in the hamburger is exposed to the air when it is put through the meat grinder. No matter how well the meat is packed together into the burger shape we love, there is no way to remove any bacteria that could've gotten on the meat then... except to cook the hamburger all the way through.

Answer 4

Because there is no exposure to the center of the meat by bacteria. When you have items like ground beef, then moisture and oxygen, ingredients for bacteria growth, infuse the entire burger. With a steak only the outside has to be cooked because only the outside has been exposed to bacteria that could make you sick.

Answer 5

Dry-aged beef is beef that has been hung to dry for several weeks. This process involves considerable expense as the beef must be stored at near freezing temperatures. Also only the more expensive cuts of meat can be dry aged, as the process requires meat with a large, evenly distributed fat content. For these reasons one seldom sees dry aged beef outside of steak restaurants and specialty butcher shops.

The process enhances beef by two means. First, moisture is evaporated from the muscle. This creates a greater concentration of beef flavor and taste. Second, the beef’s natural enzymes break down the connective tissue in the muscle, which leads to more tender beef.

Answer 6

After an animal is butchered, all the blood is drained out. Even in non-dry-aged meat, there isn't a heck of a lot of blood.

And you can swallow a fair amount of blood without getting sick.

Answer 7

Well you actually can get sick.


The only way for this though is if you get bacteria from the animal that is poisoning to the human bodies. Meat processing is so heavily guarded now though, that is very very unlikely!

Answer 8

This question goes to my 'lion & tiger' theory. They eat raw meat, and I never saw a sick one!!

Actually, we [humans] didn't always cook our food, No fire - no hot food. Besides, the teeth in our mouth called canines are designed for one purpose - ripping and tearing meat!

Answer 9

in restuarants they have to check the temp of everything. steak cook to "rare" actually is cooked more than you think.

Answer 10

Is blood supposed to make you sick?

Sound pretty strange to me!