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I have a question about e coli. I ate a little bit of a very small piece of uncooked beefalo hamburger. I am under 18, and over 11. I know that there are bi-products of this, but what exactly are they? I was being an idiot, and ate it. The piece I bit off from was an inch at most, and I only bit off a bit, if I bit off any at all. I guess I wanted to taste it.

Thanks.

  • Sorry, trying to predict what will happen to you is like trying to predict if a given coin will fall head or tails: impossible. – rumtscho Jan 18 '17 at 23:24
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    There's a lot of misconception that eating uncooked food will automatically send you to the hospital, but the reality is it's more like riding a bike without a helmet: Usually nothing's gone wrong but on the rare occasion that it does, watch out. Most of these guidelines are very broad general safety precautions. Most likely you'll be fine, esp. if the meat was fresh, clean, and stored and handled properly. If you feel ill go see a doctor, but I wouldn't worry about it. Just don't make a habit of eating random raw meat of unknown origin unless you like gambling. – Jason C Jan 19 '17 at 00:16
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    (Think of sushi; it's raw but when properly handled by chefs who understand food safety it's theoretically safe and we have no qualms about eating it, yet we're also taught to always take great care around raw fish. Same with beef or horse tartare.) – Jason C Jan 19 '17 at 00:22

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The reality is you will likely be just fine. Food poisoning, or getting E coli. are possible when eating raw meat that hasn't been handled properly. Cooking the meat to the USDA guidelines is merely done to reduce that likelihood to near zero.

If you start to feel ill you may need to see a doctor, but we can not give medical advice here.

Caleb
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