eating raw bacon today

[Mark_and_Nicole]

hey folks
i and some of my co-workers were discussing sushi earlier this week and somehow the subject of eating raw meat came up.
you know the french have a dish called beef tar tar
(raw ground beef, no fat).
but what really floored me was that one of the people i was talking with admitted that he eats raw,uncooked BACON!
and has sworn that he has never felt any ill effects from this practice.
so. i must ask. is it 'safe' to eat raw pig these days?
has modern agriculture eliminated the need to abstain from eating raw pork?
i was raised to believe that swine flesh had a parasite through out its flesh and required cooking in order to consume.
has this changed?
thanks in advance ,but please.
informed responces only! this guy,and i,need the truth

Mark

[333]

peace,

Not smart to eat any uncooked meat in quantitiy, the temperature that sterilizes the interior of meat, varies a little, depending on meat, roughly 225 on average, steak tar tar is made traditionally with egg and herbs like a meatloaf, then raised (not cooked per say)to warm temp around 225, by the time you get it its cold again.
The center "by contrast" of a good sized roast beef is "rare" when the center reaches 225 being baked in oven at 425 450. A piece of raw beacon here and their is like Russian roulette, same with sushi and raw eggs, etc.

Peace

[AlchemyAcres]

"The center "by contrast" of a good sized roast beef is "rare" when the center reaches 225 being baked in oven at 425-450."

That's news to me.....I've cooked hundreds of roasts...and 'rare' has always been 120-125 degrees.......fell done is 155 to165.

225 at an oven temp of 425-450 = a very burnt roast.

Mark....

Trichinosis is now VERY rare...
Just freezing cuts of meat less than 6 inches thick at 5 degrees for 20 days kills the larvae and eliminates the risk.
Nothing wrong with pink pork.

~Martin :)

[DM]

Canada says they are Trichinosis FREE, and have wiped it completely out of their country...

AS for eating raw bacon, my dad turned 94 a couple weeks ago, and he's been eating raw bacon every once in a while since he was a kid.

DM

[Shamrock1121]

Eating raw meat is not uncommon among many cultures.

raw beef, French style
raw beef, Italian style
raw beef, Korean style
raw beef, Mexican style
raw beef, Thai style
raw beef, Vietnamese style
raw lam appetizer
raw lamb appetizer, spicy
raw liver drink
raw salmon salad

Those are some of the raw meat recipes found in "Nourishing Traditions" by Sally Fallon and Mary Enig, Ph.D.

(Quotes from "Nourishing Traditions".)

"When Dr. Weston Price made his pioneering studies of primitive peoples around the world, he was struck by the fact that almost every group he visited ate a certain amount of their animal protein raw. The proportion of raw animal protein in the diet varied considerably. Among some Eskimo groups it verged on 100%; natives of Polynesian islands consumed a good portion of the sea food they caught without cooking it; African tribes valued liver in its raw state as essential to good health and optimum growth and strength. Tribes whose eating habits were largely vegetarian nevertheless ingested raw animal protein in the form of grubs and insects. The principal source of raw animal protein for European communities was unpasteurized milk products."

Steak tartare - France
Carpaccio - Italy
Kibbeh - Middle East
Raw, marinated fish dishes - Scandinavia, Hawaii, Latin America and Asia

"Many researchers have recommended that raw meat be included in the diet on a regular basis; but others, citing the problem of intestinal parasites, insist that meat should never be eaten raw. Parasite infection occurs frequently among the Japanese and Koreans, who habitually eat raw fish, so these warnings must be taken seriously."

For those of you who are interested in safely eating raw meat...

The parasites in beef or lamb is easily solved by freezing the meat for 14 days. According to the USDA, this will kill off all parasites.

Raw meat dishes should contain the fat as well as the lean, because meat fat contains antimicrobial fatty acids.

Fish is trickier as fish looses its firmness and texture when frozen. The solution, found among many ethnic cuisines, especially in hot countries, is to marinate or ferment fish in an acid solution of lemon juice, lime juice or whey. This will kill off all parasites and pathogens and will serve to predigest the fish as well.

According to Nourishing Traditions, they don't recommend sushi because it hasn't been marinated.

Kibbeh, the national dish of Lebanon, consists basically of raw lamb and crushed wheat. They pound these together for about an hour in a large stone mortar, then knead, season, and eat it raw. The health science in this dish... "The enzymes cathepsin and lipase of the lamb and the protease, amylase and lipase of wheat, being liberated from their bondage by pulverization, cooperative to achieve predigestion and inactivation of enzyme inhibitors during the hour the food is being pulverized. Thereafter, the predigestion continues both before and after the food is eaten, until the stomach acidity becomes very strong. People who eat this Lebanese dish save their own enzymes. (Source: Edward Howel, M.D. Enzyme Nutrition)

When it comes to "traditional" foods, such as soaking grains, nuts, or preparing raw meat, you'll usually find a health benefit from the processes. In todays "fast food" world, we have nearly lost all the traditional foods, such as long, slow processes, such as fermented foods. Even sourdough bread is a beneficial process that few use.

Another great book on the subject, which also includes raw meat information, is Traditional Foods Are Your Best Mecidine - Improving Health and Longevity with Native Nutrition - by Ronald F. Schmid, N.D.

-Karen

[JakeLeg]

Growing up around some of the German social clubs and going to their summer sports outings, i've had raw beef many times - in a sandwich with onion on rye. Frikkin amazing.

Made steak tartare many times, and have never cooked it. Never thought of cooking it. Never even HEARD of anyone cooking it.

225 deg on any kind of meat brings it past rare-medium-welldone up into the range of "anthracite", as any meat thermometer will tell you.

I, too, got the warnings on the trichina worms in high school health class, but have ventured to eat pork "rare" a few times, but never raw, and never having suffered any side effects or parasite.

Come to think of it, there is a raw beef dish served at a vietnamese restaurant we like that is served in lime juice. Apparently the acid kills the cooties. Is it possible, perhaps, that the salt curing on some meats tends to fend off the parasite? I dunno.

Now, salmonella is another thing altogether. I've had it twice - once from undercooked shellfish and once from undercooked chicken. I will never eat poultry at anything less than DONE ever again. (Don't like seafood anyhow so avoiding that won't be a problem)

[annabella1]

bacon isn't raw it's cured. You may have eaten uncooked cured bacon but it wasn't raw or it wouldn't be bacon.