Have you ever gotten sick/ill from game meat?

[CoRoMo]

This is, of course, only directed at those here who actually consume game meat. I've been harvesting and preparing my own kills since I was old enough to hunt and cook. I've eaten a myriad of critters, but up until now, I've only had food poisoning a couple times in my life, both were from McDonald's salads.

Just curious.

 

[Mr. T]

I'd have to agree with you on that. I've never got sick off anything I've killed and prepared, but I can't say that about going out to eat whether at McDondalds or some high end restaurant. The only time I have got sick was only when I went out to eat somewhere other than home.

 

[content]

Hello friends and neighbors // All the critters I've taken looked very healthy.

I agree ranch dressing or the diced ham at a salad bar was my only time, don't want to repeat the one.

Now if you consider the lethality of farts to be sick/ill /digestive intolerance. After eating Deer meat I have to leave the room to let one loose or get tossed out. I eat a lot of whitetail so I leave the room quite often. Folks probably think I started smoking again.

 

[Wolfebyte]

Only time that I've had any problems with food has been through a fast food place that didn't take the time too cook the chicken well...

Wild game? never had a problem..

 

[kanook]

With all the belly troubles I got, I have never been sick from wild game meat. Kinda funny, If I eat store bought pork I will get sicker than all out. But eating wild hog is no trouble. Just goes to show all the chemicals that are being pushed into farmed raised animals can have side effects on people.

 

[bswiv]

Never in 40 years off game meat eating. Being in seafood business I have some knowledge of what the health depts. will tell you usually cause food borne illness.

Near the top of the list is "cross contamination" between cooked and uncooked items. If I understand correctly the situation is that proper cooking kills almost all bacteria ( even though some of the toxins the bacteria create are heat stable ). Once all the bacteria is killed the food is ripe for recontamination with new bacteria.

And if the new bacteria is salmonella, which interestingly enough has a hard time competing against all the other bacteria that are usually on food but which when introduced to a item where there is no competition goes crazy, then you are in trouble.

 

[375shooter]

I've never had any averse effects whatsoever from eating game meat. The only time I had food poisoning was from a slice of pizza that I bought from a truck stop.

 

[desidog]

both were from McDonald's

Well, there's your problem right there.

I prefer to eat foods that i know have been handled properly from healthy-on-the-hoof to yummy-in-my-tummy - and those processed patties from downer cattle and pre-washed (never-washed?) salads are not the way to go.

Now i've eaten some pretty nasty things in the woods; had to eat some bark and dirt to keep my stomach from knotting up once or twice during a survival school - and i've eaten roadkill more than once...when i've swerved for a meal (pheasant), or arrived on the scene shortly after the incident (deer): none of that has made me sick.

I think it might be easier to run into issues in warmer places, or if you don't handle the meat correctly. Immediate field-dressing is essential, as is how long you hang the meat (depends on the temperature and humidity).

I've heard tell that you can get gout by eating birds that have been hung too long; years ago i remember we'd hang pheasant for 5-7 days in winter, now we know better to get them in the fridge ASAP. Controlled-rotting is a form of tenderization, but it is much safer to go with a meat-mallet and a good marinade.

 

[MCgunner]

I took the second choice. I've had food poisoning, from one of those plastic wrapped convenience store burritos. Trust me, it sucked. I got very dehydrated and have no doubt I could have died from it if I hadn't gotten medical help, ambulance ride to the ER and an IV of normal saline. Whew, that sucked. I don't eat burritos from convenience stores anymore except if they're hand made at the store. We have some stores around here that make some GOOD breakfast tacos and burritos and such.

Game, I eat LOTS of game meat and fish, never a problem.

 

[mregunz]

Nope never had bad game.Never got sick from fast food or hi-end either.

 

[Tim the student]

Never had food poisoning, and if its in the fridge/freezer, its good till I eat it.

 

[ForumSurfer]

You left out an important poll option!

You left out an important poll option! One that would have gotten my vote.

Food Poison: Lousy cook or improperly prepared meat.

I've been to some back yard bbq's with venison where the cook royally $#%#@ the pooch. Same with some possum and other various dishes. Left sick.

I've gotten sick at McD's more times than I care to remember. I try to never eat there, but every once in awhile I throw he kids a bone and treat them to that disgusting menu they do o crave. The one "mystery meat" that never got my stomach feeling horrible was the McRib...and they canceled it.

 

[countertop]

The worst I ever got sick was from some steelhead I caught. Smoked it up good - and had leftovers - well they were too good to go to waste and so I ate them too.

Second and third day were fine. But that fish sandwhich for lunch the fourth day - ouch. That sucked.

 

[Kingcreek]

I've chewed my way through a few truckloads of wild meat with never a tummyache. Do almost all our own butchering/processing except for some out of state hunts when it wasn't practical.
I threw out a moose roast once because it smelled bad when it thawed but it was given to me by a buddy.

 

[FLAvalanche]

I've never gotten sick. And I just had a wild hog tenderloin last night that was still a tad pink in the middle, just the way I like it.

Funny thing is I'm going to have a Philly Cheesesteak for lunch today and I know I'll be able to poop through a keyhole by 4pm.

 

[CoRoMo]

You left out an important poll option! One that would have gotten my vote.

Food Poison: Lousy cook or improperly prepared meat.

Admittedly, I'm not the expert in microbiology; that'd be my SIL. But I thought that most all food poisoning was due to improperly prepared/cooked ingredients. If indeed that's the case, one of the later two options should apply.

 

[rugerman]

I put not once, unless you count eating too much and feeling like I'm goin to explode.

 

[rcmodel]

Properly field dressed game is very likely safer then some of the meat you buy at the grocery store that has been drug through a packing plant picking up who knows what.
Then irradiated to kill the germs.

It don't get no fresher or cleaner then wild game if you clean it right and keep it refrigerated until you get ready to cook it.

BTW: How anyone could get past the smell of "hanging" game birds in the shed until the head rotted off is well beyond my comprehension. But it was common practice 100 years ago.

Like my mama told me, if it smells bad or turns green, don't eat it!!.

rc

 

[Zoogster]

The biggest danger from properly processed and cleaned wild game is parasites and some diseases not common in domestic animals.
Some of them you can get and never realize it, they just make you less healthy, while others are more noticeable.


Parasites is not a poll option.

I also would not want to eat deer with chronic wasting syndrome, aka scrapie relative, aka mad cow disease relative. No amount of cooking heat kills the prion responsible.
If you caught it the symptoms would most likely just be diagnosed as alzheimer's unless you were young.

If you get certain parasites they do permanent damage, others just damage intestines slightly creating scar tissue or reduce vitamin and other nutritional absorption.

The USA and its wild game is better in the zoonosis and parasite department than many parts of the world.
But there is still some things to watch out for.



I myself have never been sick, but if I eat game meat it is well done, and well done meat just isn't as good.

 

[CoRoMo]

Parasites is not a poll option.

Yep. That one hit me shortly after putting the poll up, but along the lines of what I posted in #16, I've always thought food poisoning was due to the ill-preparation of the food, and caused by the parasites that you fail to eliminate. I know there is a huge difference between round worms and giardia, but both can be eliminated in the preparation process, both are parasites, and both cause, what I call, food poisoning. Of course, food poisoning also refers to toxins and chemicals, sometimes the waste and byproducts of parasitic infestations, that are also not completely eliminated in the preparation.

I'm interested in hearing from the other guys that voted about getting sick. I can understand if it probably isn't something that you want to post about, but just curious about the specifics of the causes/origination.

 

[OYE]

I've seen those processing plants. I'll take my chances with wild game.

 

[desidog]

I'm interested in hearing from the other guys that voted about getting sick. I can understand if it probably isn't something that you want to post about, but just curious about the specifics of the causes/origination.

Came back here for just this.

I'm not saying "Pics or it didn't happen" but a little back-story would be nice to round out the discussion!

 

[qajaq59]

If you handle the meat properly, and cool it promptly, I see no reason why you'd ever get sick from it.

 

[7mmstalker]

One time my housemate convinced me that his style of bar-b-que for caribou was the "only way", lightly seared on both sides and flopped on the plate, still bleeding.
That was a lesson learned, albeit while sitting on the porcelain throne for most of the next couple of days!
The meat was fine, however, the cook was full of crap.

 

[jbkebert]

99% of all the meat eaten at our home is either raise on our farm (beef, chicken, pork) or taken through hunting. We don't buy meat from the grocery store and wild game and chickens are processed by me. Beef and pork are processed by a local small time butcher shop and the owners have known me for years.