How safe is charcoal grilling and smoking meat?

[DaveD]

With all of the carcinogenic substances to which we are often (and involuntarily) exposed, I'd judge the added risk from potential compounds formed from grilling and smoking meat to be negligible in the grand scheme of things. Western society has advanced to the point where so many heretofore major causes of death have been largely eradicated, so that people live into the ages where these much less common maladies can get at us.

It's also fiendishly difficult to attribute the onset of a particular condition to a specific cause, with so many variables in play. That's a big part of what epidemiology is about, finding correlations between disease and these kinds of factors. But most of the time, they're little more than statistical correlations with no real clue of what is the underlying cause, only that there is an X percent greater chance that those who answer "yes" to this or that behavior may develop such and such a disease.

tl;dr: Ain't worried.

[mrichie1229]

DaveD Well said!

[jfmorris]

Good point. I am more worried about diet soda and additives in store bought food than I am meat I grill or smoke.

[CHNeal]

I just found out yesterday that the real danger in cooking is with the use of gas ranges indoors so I would say you are perfectly fine outside grilling.

[jfmorris]

Yeah I heard that too about the government wanting to ban indoor gas appliances and stoves.

Gas is what I heat with, and I would hate to do it with electricity. My electric bill from AC in summer dwarfs my peak winter heating bills. If I had to heat with electricity, I know it would be even higher in winter.

[DaveD]

Ain't gonna happen. That agency has already walked it back, you won't see a serious move to ban gas appliances from the feds any time soon. Information, warnings, sure. But the feds would likely wait until some state or other did it first.

[Oak Smoke]

CHNeal Good grief! Ban indoor gas appliances? I assure you if they were bad for you I wouldn’t be here. One of the reasons we completely gutted and rebuilt our kitchen was to get rid of that electric cook top. Leave them to their own devices and they will ban indoor toilets next.

[Bkhuna]

Everybody goes sometime, might as well enjoy the ride. I can't fathom choking to death on a boiled fake burger patty.

[Washblue]

I’ve heard so many things…
Wine, eggs, flour, margarine, bacon… keep going… all these things are bad for you, before you hear they are good for you…
Now, it has migrated to the generic term, processed foods, which are bad for you!
If this train of thought is followed, in order to eat, you are required to be a hunter/gatherer… and must immediately stop shopping in grocery stores and eating out in restaurants…
Bottom line, I like pretzels, PBR, pork belly, and Jelly Belly’s!
I’d rather cook with wood and charcoal, but also use electric stoves and gas burners…
Ive even considered the particles put in the air and breathed for hours a day while cooking meals in the kitchen…
I wonder if the egg deniers have ever considered the long term health effects of aerosol particles from bagged kale boiling on the stovetop, in fluorocarbon coated alloy pots…
Probably not, unless the government funds are available…

[bbqLuv]

Me too--- I like pretzels, PBR, pork belly, and Jelly Belly’s!

[Washblue]

And drinking water! Don’t even get me started on processed drinking water!

I can say something about it, because I am not a processed water consumer!

I get my water from the same rock spring my great-grandparents got theirs from…

but I do use polyvinyl chloride pipe, so I can have indoor plumbing… so I guess I can’t be a superior individual after all…

[rickgregory]

Folks, be nice to the new person. It's a legit question, don't mock them

[Washblue]

Numbers from countries that daily burn coal and wood in single room homes, for cooking and heating, will be helpful in answering your question.

But consider they may be altered by the fact that waste plastics are being burned for free fuel…

There are current news stories about that now in Afghanistan…

To make this question easier to digest, we have a state that issues health warnings, seemingly for everything… whether they engage any of your senses or not…

[DesertRaider]

@Wasblue I disagree with the premise that it's "nearly impossible" to determine what causes disease. We know a lot, and unfortunately it is all around us. It doesn't mean that we have to cut out everything, just make smarter choices. And to me, that's everything from what and where I buy stuff (within a budget) to who I vote for (no, not starting a partisan argument). I live in a place where we can't eat the local fish, our water has contaminates left over from the mining days, and, some of

[DesertRaider]

(part duex) those very cool looking hills that kids like to climb are actually tailing's left over which have either mercury or cyanide residue. And I live in Nevada, not some third world country.
So, I get where this question comes from, and I think that because it's sincere and legit, we should treat it as such.
Hey, I love cooking outdoors, gas and smoke. I also love eating meat as my main source of protein. My point is, lets be real about what's wrong so we can hopefully fix it. Hopefully.

[Spinaker]

Here is a link to an article that Meathead has written on this very subject. Give it a look. There is a lot of great points contained with in the article.

Does Grilling Cause Cancer?

Here is some additional reading as well.
An Open letter to Brian Palmer of Slate: You got very wrong.
How Dietary Science and the Media Fail Us

These articles all touch on very important points when it comes to food safety, grilling, smoking and everything in between.

[jfmorris]

I read all of those this afternoon. Very well written, and its eye opening that the studies that say grilling/smoking are bad for you are so ridiculously out of date or not even comparable to our smoking methods.

[drobinson]

I am a confirmed, certified carnivore!! Red meat is healthy according to my almost 80-year-old body. So are grilled oysters which I will indulge in tonight. Since I bought a Weber kettle in 1970 (I'm on my third one having sold the first two in garage sales), I have probably burned thousands of pounds of charcoal and I'm still around and fully capable of pissing off vegetarians and climate change activists.

[CHNeal]

You Sir I Like!

[FireMan]

Interesting, how long on the carnivore diet?

[Porkies]

The very ground we walk upon is offering carcinogenic gasses for us to consume. I do agree people should take care of themselves as best they can with the budget they have available, but I think mortality mostly boils down to genetics and environment. By environment I mean where you live (danger), how you live (danger?), and the half-life of all the radioactive materials spewed forth by meltdowns and gasses from volcanic activity.

[FireMan]

Depends on who yer listenin to. First, there is nothing wrong with red meat, hence I eat it 6+ times a week. Second, what did all the peeps do before the gas range & electrickety? Just try not to breath the smoke. Oh, and meat is good, yessir!

[Dick Anderson]

Back in 70 or 71a friend told me that one bbq'd steak was the equivalent of smoking a pack of cigarettes a day for a year (must have been well done). He also claimed beer had all the necessary nutrients for health. He was from Bakersfield.

[RlsRls]

Statistics show that 100% of people who drink milk die. So.... there's that!
What are ya gonna do?

[Allon]

You have to die of something...

But milk?
How mundane...