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[deleted] t1_jdbourk wrote

Reply to comment by chcampb in Do insects have "meat" like other animals? I know that grubs, mealworms, etc. are eaten in some parts of the world, but if, for instance, beetles were the size of cows, could you butcher one and make beetle steak? by 9RFCat9

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goneinsane6 t1_jdbs1pa wrote

Afaik we do the same with small shrimp eaten whole (and also with some bigger shrimp/prawns(?))

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Abyss_Bringer t1_jdbukth wrote

very small shrimp sure, but larger shrimp and prawn are oftentimes "deveined" which means removing the intestines. It's not totally necessary (it can change the texture sometimes to not devein larger shrimp/prawn). That said, cooking things kills bacteria, so you're not at risk for not deveining.

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ChemicalRain5513 t1_jdbz5bo wrote

>That said, cooking things kills bacteria, so you're not at risk for not deveining.

Then why are slaughterhouses so under scrutiny to prevent fecal contamination?

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know-your-onions t1_jdc1hb1 wrote

Because a lot of people like to eat steak rare.

But chicken carcasses for instance, are processed in a way that pretty much guarantees faecal contamination, which is where the salmonella risk comes from. But you can process chickens more carefully and eat the meat rare if you like - it would just make chicken much more expensive in the western world.

Cooking certainly isn’t a failsafe way to render any and all food safe to eat though. If it were, we wouldn’t need to worry about a bunch of other food safety stuff either.

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Teledildonic t1_jdcufl8 wrote

The structure of red meat makes it very difficult for bacteria to penetrate below the surface, which is why you can eat a steak rare as long as the outside gets cooked.

I dont believe poultry meat has the same "impenetrable" properties, so I don't think you can process it in a way that could be safe rare.

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adx442 t1_jdcbiz7 wrote

Not a food scientist, but the explanation I've heard is that some bacteria produce toxins as metabolic byproducts that aren't destroyed by cooking. You can have a hamburger that had a colony of E. coli living in it that's cooked well done and become sick from the toxins left behind.

Also, undercooking can leave some bacteria alive. If a piece of meat has a small amount of bacteria right before cooking, this will probably be fine. If it was heavily contaminated at the source and packed with bacteria by the time it's cooked, 10% remaining of a huge amount is enough to colonize you and make you sick.

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ChemicalRain5513 t1_jdclik6 wrote

What I also don't understand is that E. coli can make you sick if it already lives in your guts. It seems counterintuitive to me that eating your own faeces can make you ill. Even though that's an image I don't want to have on my mind.

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adx442 t1_jdcojmh wrote

It lives in a very specific part of your intestines where other microbiota keep its growth in check and under control. Other places, like the small intestine, don't have that protection. If your large intestine gets perforated and the bacteria can escape directly into your bloodstream, you can develop sepsis and die pretty quickly.

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No_Constant8644 t1_jdd4p1j wrote

There are different strains of E. Coli. The strain in your gut is suited to that location and is kept in homeostasis within your body.

A different strain would not necessarily be kept in check by normal body processes and your immune system would likely see it as an illness thus causing the immune response (a.k.a. Symptoms of illness)

The same thing happens with yeast infections (e.g. thrush) yeast naturally lives on us, but when something causes our body’s to get out of balance it can allow for the yeast to multiply and take over where it normally would not.

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