[joseph_b]

Mold on meat == bad? Not entirely. I'm fine and I've on occasion and unintentionally eaten moldy beef jerky. Probably the water content determined mold strain prevalence.

[jacobwilliamroy]

That's mold on a preserve. It's a completely different ecosystem. My personal theory is the stuff that kills us, usually will also kill an animal, so the really deadly fungi and bacteria usually don't form until after the animal has died and the immune system has stopped functioning. That's why raw meat from a fresh kill is generally safe but if the meat is left alone for too long it becomes poisonous.

[retrac]

I think you're basically right. Many of the major foodborne pathogens are mammal or vertebrate-specific.

Given a choice, I'd eat a pound of grapes rotten to a mush before I ate a bite of green raw chicken.