this post was submitted on 28 May 2025
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I understand this is a joke, but I’ll still add context:
Germans like to eat Mett, which is basically salted ground pork. Usually it’s served on a bread roll with a raw onion ring on top.
Since the meat is uncooked, there’s the danger of getting a parasitic infection (Trichinosis). Should you get one, doctors must report that to the local health inspector who will then launch an investigation into how and where you got it.
Between 2001 and 2011 (sorry, I couldn’t find more recent data), a total of 63 cases were reported in Germany. “Despite meticulous investigations, the source of these infections often remains unknown.” [1]
Since we’re talking about ground meat, there’s the issue of spoilage. The Lebensmittelhygiene-Verordnung (Food hygiene act) mandates that Mett must only be sold on the day it’s produced.
[1] https://www.rki.de/DE/Aktuelles/Publikationen/RKI-Ratgeber/Ratgeber/Ratgeber_Trichinellose.html?nn=16777040#doc16804930bodyText3
Unless you trust the rancher, butcher, shop, and cook have all followed proper procedures the entire time and that no contaminants made their way through... you should treat all ground meat as if it could kill you. It should be fully cooked to ensure there is no chance of bacteria or parasitic infection from the meat. Doesn't matter if it;s the US, Germany, Pakistan, anywhere on the planet. Bacteria and parasites don't give a shit about where they're at (with very few extreme environment exceptions).
When you ground meats, you are putting every bit of that meat, inside and out, in contact with the outside world and anything that has touched the materials, tools, utensils, etc. that it is in contact with since they were last sanitized properly. With "solid" meat, contamination is limited to the outside surface, so cooking the outside and leaving the interior less cooked isn't nearly as much of an issue because most contaminants get killed off during the cooking process. Unless the animal had an illness affecting their meat, etc. that survives cooking to the lower interior temps, but those should be found during testing well before they make it to a market.
The time limits for sale on products like Mett are specifically about minimizing that danger period for bacteria being mixed into the ground meat and growing. There are ALWAYS going to be risks with uncooked and undercooked meat products, it's all about reducing those risks. There's a reason societies developed methods of preserving like salting, curing, and dehydrating to lengthen the safe period to eat after butchering.
Same trust is necessary with the fish used in sushi. In the US I think we are extra afraid because of our history of terrible food production practices and alteration. We basically set food safety rules based on the fact that we have no real culture expecting high quality practices with food. It is all about squeezing every penny out of sales and doing just enough to avoid being sued so the company doesn't have to pay for overpriced private healthcare.
Actually it's not most of the time. Fish intended for use in Sushi is required to be frozen, which kills most pathogens. But even if that wasn't required, that's the common practice across the board anyway. There are only a few things that are specifically fished and kept alive versus immediately frozen, things like lobsters. Generally the boats freeze the fish on the ship after being caught before it ever even gets near land. It is then kept frozen through every step until it reaches the restaurant or store. Even at fish markets, the majority of fish being sold through there is frozen. As long as the restaurant just maintains a freezer and isn't thawing the fish well before serving, the chances of illness related to that are actually quite low. The fish is generally only thawed in store before being packaged and sold over the counter for you to use immediately at home. It's basically the same fish as the freezer aisle, just thawed and packaged so you can use it immediately.
The same standards are generally not used for things like chicken, pork and beef though, at least in the US. They'll be refrigerated, but not usually frozen until immediately before being prepared and served. There are exceptions of course, some stores and restaurants receive things like frozen half cows to do their own butchering in house, but most don't and instead receive their raw products through general suppliers like SYSCO. And for your home, you're at the whim of whatever your local store does. Just because there's a meat department, that doesn't mean they're getting half a frozen cow in and butchering those steaks and ribs into each specific cut in store. Many stores receive those already cut and packaged from the company's warehouse where that was done days previously, so they don't have to have to pay for a butcher or two in every location.
Trusting them to keep it refrigerated and sanitary is the same thing as keeping it frozen and sanitary, just with different time frames. You are still trusting it wasn't thawed and refrozen in transit and kept at the right temps before serving in addition to sanitary practices.
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Gonna be honest, that sounds pretty rad right about now.