[John Morris]

John Morris  asked the Naked Scientists:
   On your recent programme about food preparation the chef said that fish only needed to reach 40 ° C to be considered cooked. Surely raw food needs to reach 65 to 70 ° to kill harmful bacteria? Or does this only apply to the surface of meats?John Morris, Burwell, Cambs

 
What do you think?

[alancalverd]

I get the impression that there are very few human pathogens in raw fish, so all you need do is to denature the proteins into a tasty form. Raw or cold-smoked fish is delicious and in my experience quite safe to eat if it hasn't been handled by anyone else: that's where the bugs come from!

[Colin2B]

The denaturation can also be achieved by acid. Raw mackerel straight from the sea, squeeze of lemon juice, leave for 10-30mins, delicious. Even without the lemon juice it is delicious.