'Medium rare' chicken post a joke, but it's a Japanese delicacy

A woman who jokingly posted a photo of undercooked chicken strips as "medium rare" has confused the internet and people just cant' figure out whether she is taking the mickey.

Morgan Jane Gibbs' post

had hashtags on veganism and the clean eating fad, which stresses unprocessed food, so presumably it was a joke.

Some people found it funny, but not everyone.

"Haha I like my chicken with less salmonella," said one online commenter.

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But another one sounded a warning note.

"Honestly some people will believe [you're] being serious and even stupider people could actually try it."

Gibbs' post was earmarked as trolling by a commenter who said:

"You should only cook it this way if you're 100 per cent sure the chicken wasn't vaccinated. Because that gives them autism and autistic chickens get salmonella."

The photo appears to have originated on a Japan tourism site and the Facebook post has been picked up all over the place including media in the UK and the United States.

But, it turns out eating undercooked chicken is on the menu in some restaurants in Japan.

Chicken tataki is chicken breast and chicken liver seared over hot coals and chicken sashimi is also a dish, sometimes called torasashi.

An article in one of Japan's national newspapers, The Asahi Shimbun, said the country's health ministry has warned about the dangers of eating raw and undercooked chicken.

The owner of one yakitori bar said she bought freshly butchered chickens in the morning for sashimi and the meat was boiled in hot water to turn the meat's surface white.

The main cause of food poisoning from chicken was campylobacter, bacteria that can be transferred from intestines to the meat when a chicken is prepared and ingested if meat is undercooked.

In 2012, the Japan health ministry banned restaurants from serving raw beef, then raw pork liver was banned in 2015, the article said.

A health ministry official said: "There is certain demand for raw chicken eating and it is part of our food cultre."

In 2011, in Japan, five people died from food poisoning after eating Korean-style raw beef, similar to steak tartare, the report said.

Food Standards Australia New Zealand says chicken, sausages and burgers must be cooked thoroughly as this reduces dangerous bacteria to safe levels. If cooked food is being cooled, this must be done quickly.