I like to be in my own little bubble when it comes to the possibility that my deer might not be perfect and instead, could have E.Coli or a number of any other gross things that I dont like (food illnesses, ticks etc). I was wondering what I could post before the weekend came and I found this article: kids getting sick from harvesting, butchering and eating their class project.
It makes me happy that I enjoy well cooked meat – no pink. I know, I run the risk of it being more like a hockey puck than a juicy piece of meat, but its a risk I am happy to take, especially when I read articles like this.
Our daughter's first meat that she ate was venison. We pureed it and froze it in ice cube trays to make individual servings for her. It wasn't that we wanted venison to be here first meat, it was just what we had it in the freezer her first year when she came on to solid foods. She didn't get sick.
Have you ever seen Food, Inc.? I would dare say that the gut of a deer has a lot less e-coli in it than feed lot cattle out of the mid-West. It apparently has to do with the corn fed diet in commercial cattle. If you haven't seen it, you should.
Last point. A good buddy of mine was a former USDA meat inspector (on the kill house floor) here in Maine. He has a degree in biology. He hunts deer, and has fed it to all of his children. This is a guy who won't eat hot dogs because he knows better. He has more than once stated his preference for self harvested venison over commercial beef, primarily because of food safety concerns.
I know you enjoy and respect hunting and wild game; just 'food' for thought…
Best,
Tyler
Thanks Tyler. I am 100% for harvesting your own food and I help my dad butcher our own deer every year that we get one. I simply posted the attached article as an interesting happening. I have never heard of people getting sick from venison. My family has been hunting for generations and to my knowledge, no one, including myself have ever been sick.
Thanks for posting and adding to the conversation!!!
I can honestly say that I have been cooking the same way for 20 years now without much deviation from my recipes and neither one of my family or friends have gotten sick.
Right?! There is really nothing sanitary about the way Dad and I butcher a deer. There have been times when we have caught our barn cats chewing on pieces. It just hangs in the shed and we have yet to get sick.