Game meat safety

[GellaBella]

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Hi guys,

The other thread about the goose/venison reminded me of a question I have. My father hunts and this past season he got a deer and a bear in upstate NY. Now, I've never had bear meat before, but I'm a microbiologist so of course now I have all these images of parasites living in the meat that wont be killed by simply freezing etc. I know that there are diagnostic labs that meat gets sent to if there is suspicion of parasitic infection...do they allow the general public to send in a sample? Do you know how much I would have to send in? Is it possible that cooking it well enough would kill anything? I have a ton of bear meat in my freezer that I'm a little too nervous to try but I WANT to try. Any thoughts, ideas, or suggestions?

 

[No Imagination]

Have access to a microlab? Not going to get a valid or reputable answer, but there are plenty of potential (bacterial) pathogens you can test for with some LB/HBI agar. It would be a fun academic exercise if nothing else. Just homogenize some tissue, do a series of dilutions and plate away. Im sure you can identify a some of what you see.

As far a parasites not dying from freezing, I assume he isn't planning on eating it raw?! And don't think there are too many muscle parasites to be an issue, Trichinellosis is the only thing that comes to mind, but im sure there are more - Trichinellosis is killed by thoroughly cooking I believe.

If you see anything interesting, you can send it off.

 

[Electrophile]

In general, I personally wouldn't eat the meat of a predator, but...I would suspect if it was frozen for a minimum of 3-4 weeks AND cooked to 180 F, it would be alright probably. The Trichinella species (other than spiralis) are the big bad boys, but cooking would take care of it. Still, I'll eat the venison and pass on the bear! 😉

 

[InfiniVet]

You can do an entire residency on Game Meat Safety.

 

[pressmom]

If you need it, I think I have a recipe for bear in my hometown cookbook. (I think it's stewed in a crockpot.) Needless to say, I come from an area of hunters.

 

[tealamutt]

you definitely want to avoid any kind of jerky made from predator meat, cook the crap out of it I say! Also bear is kind of greasy and gross, you're best off making it into sausage. I love game meat but I think predators taste awful.

 

[twelvetigers]

All I could think for the last few days of this thread...

"Winnie the Pooh, Winnie the Pooh, tubby little cubby all stuffed with fluff..."

 

[HeartSong]

All I could think for the last few days of this thread...

"Winnie the Pooh, Winnie the Pooh, tubby little cubby all stuffed with fluff..."

The best advice I can give for that .... don't eat pooh! 😛

 

[InfiniVet]

In all honesty & sincerity the best person to ask would be your personal M.D.

 

[twelvetigers]

Oh no! I would never eat Pooh. 🙂

Now Piglet, on the other hand... if he bulked up a bit first, perhaps some bacon or a nice ham... 😀

 

[TSUJC]

you definitely want to avoid any kind of jerky made from predator meat, cook the crap out of it I say! Also bear is kind of greasy and gross, you're best off making it into sausage. I love game meat but I think predators taste awful.

I would avoid non-predator jerky as well. There have been reports of E. coli O157:H7 in venison jerky! Drying doesn't kill it.

 

[WhtsThFrequency]

Yep on predator jerky, they found trich in cougar jerky a while ago. Although I was more amazed at the fact there was such a thing as cougar jerky 😱

 

[InfiniVet]

Cougar jerky eh? That's gotta have a bite to it.

Ohhhh whatta knee slapper!

 

[WhtsThFrequency]

Yesssss. I'm in a bizarre mood tonight, as shown by my flurry of strange posts concerning cougars, jello wrestling, and magnets. This fits right in!