John Pavao asked:

>How can we eat raw meat in this day and age?  How are the
>people who are doing it ensuring that the meats they eat are
>not contaminated?

Some things I do: Bacteria is only on the outer surfaces. So as long as the
meat isn't ground you can very briefly sear the outer surfaces. For totally
RAF I am careful of my sources. I will eat meat from a Halal meat store
raw, as they don't sell pork, and the meat is sometimes pasture fed. Also I
will eat beefalo raw, as I can buy it frozen from a greenmarket, direct
from the supplier. It is all pasture fed and mostly organic. I would not
eat meat totally raw if purchased from a supermarket, where who knows what
is going on in the back.

As for fish, I now buy from a vendor at the greenmarket. Much cheaper than
the fishmonger down the street. One can eat a half pound of raw tuna in a
couple seconds! The fishmonger has a takeout sushi bar in the corner, so
I'm confident of their fish. And the greenmarket sellers are the people
that caught the fish, and they seem to be careful in their handling of it.

Don.