All meat needs to be pasteurised before it's eaten.
And it's easy to do.
Pasteurisation is all about reducing, to acceptable levels, any parasites or bacteria that might be in – or on your food. Acceptable levels are between 1 in a million and 1 in 10 million – depending on the pathogen.
To pasteurise food you need to hold it, at a set temperature, for a set amount of time.
How you pasteurise meat depends on whether the pathogens are inside the meat – or just sitting on the surface.
Chicken meat, for example, is not as dense as a Sirloin steak. And that allows the pathogens to get, not just onto the surface, but right into the core of the meat. So, the only way to pasteurise chicken is to heat all of it to a temperature of 74°C to rid it of pathogens.
The same rule applies to mince or any red meat that's been mechanically tenderised. Mechanically tenderised includes a meat hammer or anything that punctures the surface like blades or skewers.
Other meats, like beef steak or lamb chops, are too dense for bacteria to get below the surface. So the inside is safe to eat, whatever the temperature – but the outside is not, as there could be pathogens there.
That's why you'll often see Steak tartare on a menu. It's because the edges (where bacteria might be lurking) have all been removed before the beef's chopped up and served. But you'll never see “Chicken tartare” on a menu – however hard you look.
And that means, however rare you like your steak or your chops, as long as all surfaces have been heated to a temperature that rids it of pathogens it's OK to eat. All it takes is 74°C for a few seconds. You can do it with a pan, oven or grill.
As a rule the higher the temperature the quicker the food gets pasteurised.
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How to tell the difference between spoilage bacteria - and dangerous bacteria
Why you should never defrost meat at room temperature