system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5:Why are the meat of animals killed by lightning/electrocution not edible?

There was an accident with a power pole in a farm in my country where around 40 cows were killed, and in the news it said that cows killed by electricity as such (or by lightning) are not proper for consumption. I was just wondering, why is that?
gpt
Any animal that is killed has a limited amount of time before bacteria in the gut (intestinal lumen) grow and divide to the point at which they can breach the wall of the intestine and spread to the abdominal cavity, thereby tainting the carcass of the animal with potentially deadly bacteria.  

Animals fit for human consumption must have their entire digestive tract removed from the body quickly after they are killed, in a manner that does not open the digestive tract, thereby spilling bacteria over the meat to be consumed.  

A lighting strike would kill a large number of animals - possibly far away from a slaughterhouse, and, likely, at night when no one is around.  It is unlikely, therefore, that said animals could be properly processed (have digestive tract removed) within a timeframe that would meet slaughtering standards for the production of meat for human consumption.