What could happen if you eat undercooked beef?

Question

If steak is not cooked enough, what could happen to you? Is there a required minimum temperature for a steak?

Answer 1

* Eating raw meat is only dangerous due to bacteria on the outside of the meat. In processed meat (e.g hamburgers) it all has been on the outside at some point and may have picked up bacteria. So you need to cook it through to kill the bacteria. In steak only the outside has come into human contact so the center has no dangerous bacteria in it. Therefore only the outside needs to be seared.

Cook beef to a temperature of at least 160° (71°). Ground beef should be cooked until all pink color is gone, but do not rely only on color. Check the temperature with a meat thermometer. Split open restaurant and home-cooked hamburgers to ensure that they have been completely cooked. The juices should be clear or yellowish, with no trace of pink. Never eat raw or undercooked ground beef.

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Answer 2

Eating Undercooked Beef

Answer 3

Undercooked Beef

Answer 4

Corned beef hash is made from corned beef that's already cooked, and potatoes. Undercooked potatoes aren't bad for you, in fact I know a few people who eat them raw. So there's nothing in undercooked corned beef hash that will make you sick.

Answer 5

Some people like their beef undercooked. Have you ever seen someone eat their steak rare or tartare (just warmed on either side). Personally, I can't stand anything under medium. The worst that could happen is that you could get E. coli. Could also get the mad cow disease. People eat beef undercooked so often without any ill effects.

Answer 6

I believe that a safely cooked steak should be 160 degrees in the center. You could definately get food poisoning or some deadly bacteria from undercooked meat.

Answer 7

If you are sure that the meat is safe, and you're not pregnant, nothing bad will happen. Medium-rare and medium steak are both undercooked, most people prefer their stake medium, and very few have gotten sick from it.

Answer 8

If it is a fresh and GOOD QUALITY beef bought from a trusted supplier, then nothing will happen to you even if you eat it totally raw.

Answer 9

I was looking at the answers given so I wouldn't repeat anything so what Golden Smile is saying is correct. Steaks are ok rare if you like them that way. The only concern is in hamburger / ground meats need cooking all the way through.

Answer 10

Steak isn't the same risk as hamburger. With hamburger, any contamination gets mixed through and through, so it has to be cooked entirely. With steak, any contamination stays on the outside. It can be prepared bloody rare and the surface is still cooked well enough to be safe. Any contamination is from inadvertant contact with fecal material when butchering, and stays on the surface except for hamburger, where it's mixed through.