What is in my elk meat!?

[Iveexcaped3]

No big deal 

1) Freeze it for at least 10 days.  Ensures all parasites are dead.  Pretty much any meat we get, especially game meat, has some.
2) Cook and use a meat thermometer for correct internal temps (doesn't need to be well done, but probably not 'blue' either)
3) If really concerned, turn into jerky, sausage, canned meat, etc.  Give away as Christmas presents to your inlaws.  Win win.

Freeze it to -5F and it kills the parasite as well. Cook steak to whatever you want even blue.

[hunter399]

No big deal 

1) Freeze it for at least 10 days.  Ensures all parasites are dead.  Pretty much any meat we get, especially game meat, has some.
2) Cook and use a meat thermometer for correct internal temps (doesn't need to be well done, but probably not 'blue' either)
3) If really concerned, turn into jerky, sausage, canned meat, etc.  Give away as Christmas presents to your inlaws.  Win win.

Freeze it to -5F and it kills the parasite as well. Cook steak to whatever you want even blue.

That's pretty much same for grind,freeze,thaw,grind,process,refreeze,pull from freezer precooked meat that has had a cure added.
Enough salt and freeze ,and cooked to 160 kills everything.

[scoutdog346]

That sucks so bad...I'm sorry
I wouldn't eat it but I would boil grind the whole thing up and make it into dog food. Freeze it

[timberfaller]

As my brother in law who autopsied many deer for the Game Department back in the early 70's while they did their Mule Deer study told me,  "if hunters knew of all the "bugs" in deer meat, they wouldn't hunt anymore."

There is a reason meat is to be cooked to a certain temp, its to kill what they carry around all their lives and YOU don't see them in the meat.

If you don't like it, grind it up and feed someones dogs and cats with it.   The only thing I heard of in my hunting years was one guy who shot a nice mule deer in Idaho, he got it home, butchered it and froze it.   The first package of steaks he threw on the stove stunk the whole house up,  the took the rest and made dog food out of it.

[Fidelk]

Chickin fry it.

[time2hunt]

You all have eaten worse fry it up and enjoy.


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[KillerBeee]

Sous vide cooking will kill parasites as well.

[fireweed]

Got some more questions answered, but the vets and bio's would never say that it is totally safe to eat and that it can NEVER infect people (lawsuit protection?).  Their answer is: just cook it well done and get over the "ick" factor.  One bio who has done many necropsies on Mt St Helens elk said they had never seen it in the field, but when tissue samples were sent in, it could often be present microscopically.  Which means two things, our elk is super-infected, AND most of us hunters have already eaten this.  They even mentioned that cattle in areas with canines in WA get it, too.  I can't imagine a USDA inspector passing along this in beef if it looks like our elk!  I had considered sending it all in to make kielbasa and summer sausage, but they said the temperature for processed meats doesn't usually get 160 degrees.  For now its all in the freezer.

[444Marlin]

I wouldn't have a problem with it.  You probably get worse things in your garden grown veggies.

[Lucky1]

I wonder if freezing the meat would kill any parasites that might be bad for you

[Sitka_Blacktail]

Listeria for one is a bacteria that freezing won't kill. It will stop it from growing but it remains alive and starts growing when the product is thawed.

[Peewee]

I killed a black tail like that in capital first a few years back, I didn’t eat it, fed it to my dogs.
It was loaded with gross little puss pockets with parasites just like that, the buck was tiny n ran down.

[snake]

quite a bit of wild game has parasites in it

[hoytxl2009]

Sarcocystis. Had a buddy kill a bull near st Helen's two years ago with the same thing.  First time I've seen it in elk, but did see it alot back in my duck/goose hunting days.