Food Safety and Handling Wild Game – What You Need to Know

Hunting season is upon us, and many people enjoy getting back to nature, being one with the outdoors, and hunting for their own food.  With inflation causing higher meat prices, those who enjoy hunting can cut the cost of their grocery bill considerably with the addition of game meat to their meal plan. There are somethings that you do need to know about harvesting your own meat, and food safety should always be forefront while butchering and preserving your catch.

You can catch diseases from field dressing wild game if you are not careful. Wild hogs carry brucellosis and trichinella spiralis, which causes trichinellosis. Bears also carry this parasite, so prepping and cooking bear meat should be done carefully. White tailed deer can carry Chronic Wasting Disease, the Covid-19 virus, which scientists have recently discovered, and ticks that cause Lyme disease (1)(2)(3).

There are a few precautions that you should take when field dressing wild game to ensure your safety.

1. Do not take game that looks visibly ill. Make sure that you only take game that is visibly healthy (1).
2. Use gloves and wear a mask while cleaning and handling the carcass. Brucellosis, Covid 19, and bovine tuberculosis could be transmitted through small cuts, or getting blood or other fluids in your eyes, nose, or mouth (1).
3. Make sure that knives and any other utensils are sharp and safe to use (1).
4. Avoid direct contact with blood and other bodily fluids and organs of the animal (1).
5. Disinfect all tools and surfaces that come into contact with the animal after dressing it.

Here are helpful articles that can help you prepare for your big hunt.

https://www.outdoorlife.com/blogs/cast-iron-chef/7-golden-rules-wild-game-care-field-freezer/

https://extension.psu.edu/proper-field-dressing-and-handling-of-wild-game-and-fish

Dressing your game properly is also important for food safety.

1. Remove the entrails as quickly as possible. This can be done in the field or at your local processor, if that is route that you choose to go. Faster is always better.
2. While skinning the animal, make sure that you do not penetrate the muscle tissue.  This provides a way for bacteria to enter the carcass, causing spoilage (4).
3. Make sure to cool the carcass down as quickly as possible. Cool the carcass to 40 °F as soon as possible. Bacteria can grow exponentially as the meat warms up. If you are hunting in a cold climate, nature might be on your side, but if you are hunting down south, make sure you prepare by bringing coolers and ice with you on your hunt (4).

Here are some helpful videos from Texas A&M’s AgriLife Extension Service that can help you dress and package your game. They can be found here: https://foodsafety.tamu.edu/wild-game-food-safety/

There are also YouTube videos that can be helpful as well. Here is one from OSU.

When preparing your game for the table, make sure that you follow normal food safety precautions.

1. Prepare your game in a clean environment and disinfect surfaces after you are finished. This is no different from prepping your holiday turkey. Wash your hands frequently with soap and be careful when handling game. Keep it cold until you have time to cook your meal.
2. If you are cooking hog or bear, make sure that you check for cysts and remove them before cooking.
3. Cook game until it reaches 165 °F and check it in several places using a food thermometer. If you are smoking your meat, and I cannot stress this enough, make sure you get accurate temperatures from the middle of the meat.
4. Store cooked leftovers in the refrigerator within two hours. The sooner the better.
5. Remember, keep hot foods hot, and cold foods cold.
6. Wash your hands often while preparing, serving, and cleaning up from your fabulous dinner.

Here are some links to recipes that you might enjoy with the game that you have harvested.

https://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/ingredients/meat-poultry/wild-game/

https://www.mossyoak.com/your-obsession/content-type/wild-game-recipes

https://www.greatbritishchefs.com/ingredients/game-recipes

Have a safe and happy hunt, and may your freezer be filled with delicious venison, turkey, and fish. As always, don’t forget to stay safe and wash your hands!

1. brucellosis_and_hoghunters.pdf. (n.d.). https://www.cdc.gov/brucellosis/pdf/brucellosis_and_hoghunters.pdf
2. J Bogitsh, B. (2013). HUMAN PARASITOLOGY FOURTH EDITION. Elsevier. http://125.212.201.8:6008/handle/DHKTYTHD_123/5867, 296-300
3. Chandler, J. C., Bevins, S. N., Ellis, J. W., Linder, T. J., Tell, R. M., Jenkins-Moore, M., Root, J. J., Lenoch, J. B., Robbe-Austerman, S., DeLiberto, T. J., Gidlewski, T., Kim Torchetti, M., & Shriner, S. A. (2021). SARS-CoV-2 exposure in wild white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus). Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 118(47). https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2114828118
4. Dahlke, J. (2016, September 22). The 7 Golden Rules of Wild Game Care, from Field to Freezer. https://www.outdoorlife.com/blogs/cast-iron-chef/7-golden-rules-wild-game-care-field-freezer/