Should have grabbed the sunny D instead! ;)

be a bit more observative next time

Okay, as countless other people have said, meat always goes on the bottom shelf, on a plate, for exactly this reason. Raw meat is a huge cross-contamination risk. With luck, you won't get e-coli though. For those who say defrost stuff on the counter, that is just asking for trouble. Being kept in the fridge will greatly slow down any activity by the bacteria present in the meat. Letting the meat defrost at room temperature will let the bacteria come to life fully and start spreading through your steak. Yeah, thorough cooking will probably kill the bacteria, but their waste products will be left behind, which can sometimes make you sick, especially as their quantities grow. And too many people do not thoroughly cook their meat. Look at how many people die whenever there is an e-coli outbreak.

^Reason why I REFUSE to eat any red meat that's not cooked well done. The person (your father?) who did this needs to be slapped. He could cross contaminate everything open and bare in the fridge. What my mother does is defrost meat in the sink. Don't know how safe that is, but it has to be better than leaving it on the top shelf of the refridgerator.

thats not that bad, all you bacteria failures need to shut up think about animals who eat raw meat rofl

Eating raw meat causes no harm. Bacteria is good for you. In fact, the bacteria is required to properly digest the meat. Drinking raw blood of another animal is perfectly normal and healthy. We are the only mammal out of the 700,000 on earth that think that we have to cook the meat for some reason.

Bleck.

ok, what? meat doesn't have to go on the bottom shelf, it should just be put on a dish of some sort (wrapped in something, of course) with paper towels in between the meat and dish to be extra-careful. good luck op, generally you get some leeway with beef though.

the problem is that improper meat handling = bacteriafest. unless you were to raise and kill your animals yourself so that you can be sure of what happens in the process, you're going to need to cook your meat. unless your local butcher (if you even have one) is a clean guy. and the animals are sent locally. etc

sooft tings