CWD safe to eat or not?

[matt85]

I know nothing about the disease.

With that said, it would depend how broke and hungry i was. If the $900 lost was extremely painful and food was tight, id eat it. Otherwise, i probably wouldn't.

 

[Betterinthebush]

It’s difficult to tell someone yes or no. If it looked healthy when you took it I’d eat it. I think it will be more common than many realize. Anyone that gets processed meats made will have parts of other hunter’s animals in the meat they get back and it will be processed on the same equipment.

Spot on. Thank you. An entire plant worth of product would, in theory, be at risk of contamination and, therefore, bd condemned.

For me the risk of cross-contamination is to great to risk the easy money of further processing mark-ups for deer.

 

[Hunt anything]

I don’t know? I’ve read that heat doesn’t kill the prions in CWD.

I’ve heard the same, they say that even if you burn the carcass the prions stay in the soil for years. How accurate this is I don’t have a clue.

I probably wouldn’t eat it, we’ve had a few cases in extreme northwest Alabama but I live in the extreme southwest corner , none in southeast Mississippi and non in the Florida panhandle yet so I’m not overly concerned about it yet.

Can anyone clarify if it’s present in the flesh or only in brain and spinal tissue? That could influence whether I would eat it or not.

 

[Jeff505]

Get a pressure canner and start canning, no microorganism, bacteria, virus survive, and quite delicious

A prion does not fall under the category of a truly living organism. It is a self replicating protein molecule. You cannot deactivate it with temperatures derived from cooking. My company is in the sterilization field. Steam sterilization is not affective at halting this process. Lower temp sterilization using vaporized hydrogen peroxide is able to deactivate it.

 

[Tex .416]

My wife and I only eat game meat, so this is an issue we are watching. In short, times would have to be desperate for me to knowingly eat CWD infected meat.

Here is an article discussing cooking and CWD.

Can CWD Be Killed by Cooking? Understanding Chronic Wasting Disease and Food Safety - EasyCleanCook

Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) has emerged as a significant concern for wildlife management, public health, and outdoor enthusiasts alike. As hunters and

easycleancook.com

 

[375Ruger416]

Very interested in this topic.

Virus or bacteria, denatured is denatured.

I have a background in genetics and biology and I'm interested to see thoughts on this matter.

It’s not a virus or a bacteria. It’s a prion.

Infectious disease is not my area of expertise with residencies in family medicine and anesthesia, however, I wouldn’t eat it. From what I understand, CWD is concentrated in nervous tissue and not in muscle. As far as I know, there are no documented cases of CWD in humans, but you really, really do not want to become the first case.

I would eat it if I was worried about having enough food for the winter, but not otherwise.

 

[JimP]

All the butchers that I know here in Colorado will not do any bone in cuts for you just because of CWD. Likewise a butcher that I used in Wyoming for a antelope also doesn't do bone in cuts. When I asked for the shanks he just told me that I'd have to cut them off myself.

Also from what I have read the CWD bugs are mostly present in the lymph nodes, brain, and the marrow of the bones. This is where states don't allow animal parts transported into or out of state with attached skull caps where brain matter may be present.

I'm also of the idea of how many animals have we eaten that had CWD without knowing? I think that I would just grind all the meat and cook it to well done.

 

[375Ruger416]

My wife and I only eat game meat, so this is an issue we are watching. In short, times would have to be desperate for me to knowingly eat CWD infected meat.

Here is an article discussing cooking and CWD.

Can CWD Be Killed by Cooking? Understanding Chronic Wasting Disease and Food Safety - EasyCleanCook

Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) has emerged as a significant concern for wildlife management, public health, and outdoor enthusiasts alike. As hunters and

easycleancook.com

Thank you for the article.

 

[Tex .416]

Thank you for the article.

You’re welcome.

 

[Hunt anything]

All the butchers that I know here in Colorado will not do any bone in cuts for you just because of CWD. Likewise a butcher that I used in Wyoming for a antelope also doesn't do bone in cuts. When I asked for the shanks he just told me that I'd have to cut them off myself.

Also from what I have read the CWD bugs are mostly present in the lymph nodes, brain, and the marrow of the bones. This is where states don't allow animal parts transported into or out of state with attached skull caps where brain matter may be present.

I'm also of the idea of how many animals have we eaten that had CWD without knowing? I think that I would just grind all the meat and cook it to well done.

I’ve gone through checkpoints with conservation officers asking if I had any deer parts or bone in meat in my vehicle.

I’ve also wondered how much venison has been consumed contaminated with CWD unknowingly, especially where it has been present for years.

 

[Tex .416]

I'm also of the idea of how many animals have we eaten that had CWD without knowing? I think that I would just grind all the meat and cook it to well done.

Cooking to well done will NOT inactivate CWD.
Even cooking it at 800 degrees will not inactivate it. Take a look at the article in my post above.

 

[RedTag]

Get a pressure canner and start canning, no microorganism, bacteria, virus survive, and quite delicious

Prions are not micro organisms; they are misfolded proteins that are highly infectious and are not readily destroyed by conventional food preparation methods to include heat, pressure, salt, etc.
Caustic soda (sodium hydroxide) can, and bleach *may* destroy prions, but the sure way to deactivate them is via complete incineration. I don’t know about anyone else but I wouldn’t do that to my food.
Here’s the other thing to consider: that processor has now cross contaminated his equipment and thus all other meat processed by his facility. That is unless he purified his equipment with copious soaking in sodium hydroxide or put all his equipment through an autoclave.
Prions can persist in the environment for many years. Prion diseases can take decades to manifest. The bottom line, I wouldn’t eat it!

 

[pilar]

I’m not gonna say yes or no, I shot a elk that the USDA testing team called me about
Their advice was don’t eating any of the spinal tissue or brain matter , bone marrow ( just the deboned meat) so we did , plus I worked for the USDA tracking Bovine babesiosis back in the 1990’s
Collecting specimens from deer, nilgai, hogs, tortoises ( yes they carry tick)
And other hosts of the Texas fever tick parasites, TA&M Kingsville basically had said
Meat consumption from the infected animals was ok , but getting bitten by tick was a possibility for people to get sick!
So if you’re Leary of animal borne illnesses I would say become a vegetarian as basically every animal carries some sort of disease,
The ironic part is when I worked for the USDA I contacted West Nile virus ( birds are the carriers) never caught anything from the ticks or animal we tested .
It’s your choice imo

 

[Hunt anything]

I’m not gonna say yes or no, I shot a elk that the USDA testing team called me about
Their advice was don’t eating any of the spinal tissue or brain matter , bone marrow ( just the deboned meat) so we did , plus I worked for the USDA tracking Bovine babesiosis back in the 1990’s
Collecting specimens from deer, nilgai, hogs, tortoises ( yes they carry tick)
And other hosts of the Texas fever tick parasites, TA&M Kingsville basically had said
Meat consumption from the infected animals was ok , but getting bitten by tick was a possibility for people to get sick!
So if you’re Leary of animal borne illnesses I would say become a vegetarian as basically every animal carries some sort of disease,
The ironic part is when I worked for the USDA I contacted West Nile virus ( birds are the carriers) never caught anything from the ticks or animal we tested .
It’s your choice imo

I bet that was an interesting job!
Even vegetarians risk ecoli, salmonella and other contaminants! We can’t win, use common sense ( the new superpower) and wash vegetables and don’t eat an animal that acts sick or tested positive.

 

[RedTag]

The chance of surviving viral, bacterial, fungal, or parasitic infections can range from very low to fairly high, depending on the pathogen in question and your own immune response. But the chance of surviving prion diseases is none.

 

[Scott CWO]

From Wikipedia,


“CWD is a transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (TSE) affecting deer. TSEs are a family of diseases caused by misfolded proteins called prions and include similar diseases such as BSE (mad cow disease) in cattle, Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease(CJD) in humans, and scrapie in sheep. . . . In April 2024, it was revealed that two men from the same hunting group contracted Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease, prompting medical researchers to speculate transmission had occurred from consuming CWD-positive venison.”

I would not touch it much less eat it.

I can’t believe you posted that statement from years and years ago from an inflammatory article with no backing. This proved to be false. CDC just came out with another study showing no cases in humans to date.

CWD started at the Foothills Research Center in Fort Collins, CO, operated by the Colorado Division of Wildlife and Colorado State University when scrapies jumped from domestic sheep to deer in the 1960s. The scientists thought that perhaps the deer were missing something in their diets in captivity. They released sick deer on the state owned 11,000 acre Maxwell Ranch, only a few miles from my ranch. They also caught wild bucks during the rut to breed the captive does and then released the bucks back into the wild. They also sold excess deer and elk to game farms. They traded animals with other research facilities, such as the Sybille Research Unit in WY. They did all this not knowing that prions were the problem.

I have operated a large outfit in the epicenter of CWD for 35 years. Perhaps no one has handled or eaten more CWD animals than I have. To be triple safe, throw the meat out but there is no evidence of transmission to people or predators. As a matter of fact, Colorado’s incidence of CJD in people is lower than the national average but we have the highest incidence of CWD.

 

[Scott CWO]

I’ve heard the same, they say that even if you burn the carcass the prions stay in the soil for years. How accurate this is I don’t have a clue.

I probably wouldn’t eat it, we’ve had a few cases in extreme northwest Alabama but I live in the extreme southwest corner , none in southeast Mississippi and non in the Florida panhandle yet so I’m not overly concerned about it yet.

Can anyone clarify if it’s present in the flesh or only in brain and spinal tissue? That could influence whether I would eat it or not.

It has now been found in all parts of the animal. Here in Colorado, prions are in soil, water and even uptake into plants. It is here to stay. Quite frankly, CWD is the least of my worries. Now CWD “management”, don’t get me started!

 

[steve white]

Get a pressure canner and start canning, no microorganism, bacteria, virus survive, and quite delicious

Prions are strange anomalys--they are not living creatures, yet act like they are. Not sure they can be made safe, but would be very happy if proven that they could be made safe.
You can also get over CJacobs, I know a lady who has, though she never ate game, got it elsewhere, somehow.
I seem to remember a broadcast from the CDC years ago where one of their scientists, seated at his desk made the statement, "well, we've heated it to 1800 degrees and not killed it"....which broadcast was buried and never saw the light of day again. Too shocking for public consumption, I presume.
I believe the odds of transmission are low. I also believe that I am unlucky some days.

In response to CWO's story of beginnings, it was my understanding that CWD started the same way mad cow disease started--mad cow by feeding cows recycled animal protein waste to save money on feed, and CWD as an identical supplement set out for deer in the northeast, Vermont and other areas with low deer density, in order to feed them into population growth. This by the game department in Vermont, to boot! Neither the game dept. nor the farmers had any moral or legal right to take a chance and unleash a disease on the world, blast it!!!!!!!!!
I get so fed up with horrible problems like kudzu, jumping grass carp, CWD and other things introduced BY governmental "experts" who are supposed to be looking out for us and who should know better!!! And no one fires them much less sues them over it! Oh, but just let me dig up a pincushion cactus to take home to the missuss and they will throw the book at me for doing something to the environment.

 

[mooze]

Very interested in this topic.

Virus or bacteria, denatured is denatured.

I have a background in genetics and biology and I'm interested to see thoughts on this matter.

prions are " denatured" neurotropic proteins, they made it from dead sheep via heat processed feed into elk and cattle. And from Cattle to humans, especially in Switzerland and England where that feed was employed. So I would not eat anything that has tested positive for any prion disease
for reference:
kuru-kuru: papua new guinea, human to human transmission ( cannibalism, eating brains)
Creutzfeld-Jacobs disease: human, transmission pathway uncertain but familial clusters
Scrapie: sheep, transmissible by saliva and consuming meat and neural tissue
CWD: ungulates, made it to Canadian elkfarms via whole processed british sheep in pellet form, since spread via saliva /close contacts to other ungulates, has reached western Canada

 

[mooze]

I’ve heard the same, they say that even if you burn the carcass the prions stay in the soil for years. How accurate this is I don’t have a clue.

I probably wouldn’t eat it, we’ve had a few cases in extreme northwest Alabama but I live in the extreme southwest corner , none in southeast Mississippi and non in the Florida panhandle yet so I’m not overly concerned about it yet.

Can anyone clarify if it’s present in the flesh or only in brain and spinal tissue? That could influence whether I would eat it or not.

any neural tissue, so concentrtation differs brain> spinal cord> peripheral tissue