Nowadays, as people's living standards have improved, they occasionally go out for Western food. Having steak, desserts, and coffee together feels quite nice. Here's a small question: when you eat steak, do you prefer it to be rare, medium-rare, medium, medium-well, or well-done? Is there a safety risk in eating steak that isn't well-done?
How to judge the "doneness" of a steak
The level of doneness for a steak is referred to as "how cooked it is" in Western cuisine. So, how can you tell the doneness of a steak? Generally, a rare steak has a slightly seared surface, while the inside is completely raw and red. A medium-rare steak's cross-section shows a gray-brown color only on the top and bottom layers, with 70% of the meat being red and containing a lot of juice. A medium steak's cross-section has 50% red meat in the center with a small amount of juice. For a medium-well to well-done steak, the center of the cross-section only has a thin red line, and the juice in the meat is almost gone.
Is undercooked steak safe?
Experts explain that the safety of steak is not particularly related to its doneness in theory, but is more closely related to the health of the animal before slaughter and the control of biological hazards during the slaughter process. Simply put, the safety of steak is related to the quality control of the meat.
Under normal circumstances, if the animal was healthy before slaughter (healthy animals, having stronger immune systems, generally do not carry pathogenic microorganisms), and if microbial control during slaughter is also good, without contamination from pathogens, then the steak is generally safe regardless of its doneness.
Many people abroad eat medium-rare and medium steaks, and some foreigners even specifically eat steaks with blood. The premise is that they do well in controlling biological hazards. The control of biological hazards generally includes three categories: some common bacteria, some viruses, and some parasites.
If the animal was sick before slaughter, or if biological hazards were not well-controlled during slaughter and the meat was contaminated by pathogens, or if the quality control of the meat was poor in terms of inspection and quarantine, then the safety risk of eating undercooked steak is relatively high. Therefore, we should try to choose well-done steak.
After steak is thoroughly cooked, pathogenic microorganisms such as some viruses and parasites pose a very low safety risk under high-temperature cooking. Steak that is not fully cooked or still has blood has a low cooking temperature. If the beef contains harmful microorganisms, eating it may pose a risk.
Experts say that domestic food companies have a certain gap with foreign countries in terms of controlling biological hazards. It is recommended to choose medium, medium-well, or well-done steak when eating, and it is not advisable to eat rare steak. In addition, try to choose steaks produced by large enterprises. The production processes of large enterprises are relatively standardized, and they do a better job in quality control of meat, so the safety is relatively higher.
In short, if the quality of the meat is well-controlled, you can freely choose different levels of doneness according to your personal preference, as the taste of steak varies with its doneness. However, if the quality of the meat is not well-controlled, and your own immunity is not strong, it is best to choose well-done steak.