Is it OK to Eat Raw Steak?

Eating raw or rare steak is generally okay. There are a few things you should know though before you do cook your meat rare or eat it raw. You could still get sick. One thing you should never do is eat raw hamburger meat unless you grind the meat up yourself. Hamburger meat is the meat you really have to worry about and not beef steaks. There are some things you should know about eating raw or rare steak.

Raw or rare steak does have parasitic bacteria in it, and can carry viruses. That is why it is important to cook the meat on the outside or use another way of cleaning the meat of these bacteria and virus. Worms can live in the meat, and then can grow inside you. Worms are probably the most common thing you will see with eating raw beef. Beef tapeworms, and other kinds of worms are pretty common. I have seen plenty of worms in my day, as I have eaten a lot of red meat. Recognizing them and not eating them, or killing them is key. Most bacteria and parasites die in beef at 155F, which really isn't that high.

You don't have to worry about mad cow disease because nothing can kill that. Even if you cook the steak well done, and the piece of meat is infected with the mad cow disease, the disease will still be present in the meat. This disease is very rare though, so you shouldn't worry about it. It is a very bad disease though.

Hookworms are another risk in eating rare and raw beef. There are risk eating anything raw, but really beef is probably one of the safest meats you could possibly eat raw. Especially if you cook it up to 155F and kill off all the parasites and other bacteria inside.

Children and older people should not eat raw meat, because they don't have as good immune systems as a highly adult. People with stomach problems or people susceptible to infection or with compromised immune systems should also be wary of raw beef. Raw beef compared to say raw pork is much safer. Same goes for chicken. Chicken and pork are very very dangerous to eat raw, you could end up getting very sick if you under cook pork or chicken.

In conclusion, raw beef is safe to eat as long as you take precautions first and inspect the meat for parasitic activity and clean and prepare it properly.