A Special Dilemma for Processors

(and sound advice for their customers)

Reprint courtesy of American Association of Meat Processors and Central Meats

Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) presents a problem for established game processing operations. They must keep the issue in a proper perspective. For years, we have had diseases like scrapies in sheep, but with proper disposal of brain and nervous system materials, we still maintain a market for sheep meat.

We have lived with Lyme disease, blue tongue and tuberculosis in wild animals for years, even rabies. Yet, those diseases have not kept Americans from hunting and consuming game meat products. We have kept things under surveillance and become more cautious and deliberate about the way we handle the game animals of our customers. We have to since they are part of our livelihood.

But the greatest danger in consuming wild deer or elk lies in basic sanitation. It begins when the animal is downed. The careful hunter takes time to do the job of field dressing properly, taking care not to break the bung or intestinal materials on muscle meat that will be consumed by friends and family. The careful hunter sees that the animal is kept clean of dirt and debris and is cooled down and rinsed as soon as practicable. It is then that the hunter makes a critical decision… where to process the deer or elk.

Each year, thousands of garage, shade tree and corn crib “self taught” butchers begin operating to attract the hunting season trade. Too often, we have seen lack of pest control programs, lack of hot water and sanitizers, lack of knowledge about any animal diseases, and an attitude that gives back to the hunter all the meat, even that which is questionable or in distressed condition. That’s why they are only in business a few weeks a year, and avoids any type of state or federal inspection and wouldn’t even think to write a food safety handling plan, or have a sanitation standard operating procedure in place.

What we’re saying is the greatest danger is not CWD, it is safety and sanitation in the way the animal is field dressed, transported, processed. Yes, you will pay more at a respectable, licensed, inspected or established processing firm. You will pay for their product knowledge and the way it is applied with your safety and satisfaction in mind. They want you back. They want you safe. And, they want you satisfied. You wouldn’t want your family to eat in a restaurant that featured dirty dishes and silverware, served by the unwashed in an unsanitary environment. Why would you want any less?

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