CWD safe to eat or not?

[Betterinthebush]

This link I’m providing gives a very concise explanation of a very similar prion disease I have to deal with daily, BSE, which is found in cattle. Beef animals >30mo. are processed differently. The first question I ask a beef customer is age of animal. If they don’t know or lie to me and I find out that the critter is older than 30mo. at slaughter, everything consumable is going to be boneless.

I’d consider this link for concerns on CWD in deer, elk, moose as general guidance for food safety and safe processing concerns for the home processor.

https://www.ndda.nd.gov/sites/www/files/documents/files/3-4%20SRM%20remodel.pdf

 

[Altitude sickness]

It’s in the soil, so be careful of eating any plant ever again. and never allow dust from dirt roads to get on you. And God help you if you breath dust while driving down a gravel road in a CWD area with Prions in the soil.

Everyone in CWD areas should have already died from Prions by now. It was “discovered” in the 1960s

To be cautious Don’t eat brains or spinal columns from any animal and you’ll be fine.

 

[Foxi]

In Europe, it has only occurred in Norway so far.
In Switzerland, the meat is considered unfit for consumption.
Below is a sentence from a medical report on this disease.
I wouldn't eat it. If you serve it to your children or guests, they certainly won't feel comfortable.
I'm sure you don't feel good about it either.


"EFSA scientists point out that in areas where the disease occurs, infected meat could enter the human food chain. However, they conclude that there is currently no scientific evidence to suggest that humans can contract CWD by eating meat from infected animals".

 

[Altitude sickness]

The Prions are in the dirt. And transmitted to animals from the plants grown in contaminated dirt.

Humans eat the same wheat, corn etc grown in contaminated dirt that ungulates eat in CWD areas.

Why no warning on eating plant based food from CWD areas?

 

[rookhawk]

You’ve known two people who died from a one-in-a-million disease. Presumably they were hunters? Food for thought…

vCJD is extremely rare, with only a few hundred cases reported worldwide since its discovery in 1996. The incidence of vCJD has declined significantly in recent years due to stricter regulations on beef production.

 

[steve white]

CWD is not listed as a concern around Throckmorton county where I hunt, whew. Don't even know if there is a check station anywhere near there since my computer constantly says that the TP&W web addresses are "unprotected" could be fake, whatever--they WON'T let me look or give me the option to look. Grrrr. Short answer: I'm going to continue to eat deer from there, but will have them checked as a public service IF I can find a check station.
I would definitely have them checked at Matador WMA where I know they have people assigned if I go back to shoot does there. They have mule deer on that ranch they are trying to protect by eliminating some of the white tails. Nobody seems to have a clue why the mule deer are struggling to keep up.

 

[rookhawk]

5 pages of everyone worrying about things they cannot control and cannot change. You have all consumed CWD. You've all inhaled CWD. You cannot destroy prions with cooking. It is what it is. All the chicken little talk is just throwing meat away. And what of those that test negative but it was just early in the process and that particular tested tissue wasn't yet impacted? Yeah, you're eating CWD.

CWD has been around a LONG time. You've been eating it before it even had a name or a diagnosis. It is what it is.

Try not to eat CNS fluid, cord, or brain. That's your best mitigating factor.

 

[steve white]

5 pages of everyone worrying about things they cannot control and cannot change. You have all consumed CWD. You've all inhaled CWD. You cannot destroy prions with cooking. It is what it is. All the chicken little talk is just throwing meat away. And what of those that test negative but it was just early in the process and that particular tested tissue wasn't yet impacted? Yeah, you're eating CWD.

CWD has been around a LONG time. You've been eating it before it even had a name or a diagnosis. It is what it is.

Try not to eat CNS fluid, cord, or brain. That's your best mitigating factor.

I might wonder how LONG it has been around. Mad cow disease was certainly a new phenomenon, the symptoms and behavior not having been seen before IMO, and directly as a result of feeding grass eating herbivores an animal protein diet for the first time. In fact I don't think it had ever previously entered the mind of man to feed cows animal matter in all history preceding. Ditto for some deer feeding experiments.
The next piece of the puzzle, though, is WHY does it show up in deer breeding close containments? I think there is little debate that it does occur much more frequently in those conditions. Statistics and maps of CWD outbreaks consistently show that breeding facilities are hotspots. Why? We'll learn a lot when we know the answer to that, especially as regards UNINFECTED deer which come down with it while contained in closer proximity than nature dictates.
How can land recover? If you stop deer breeding containment and open up the fences, what will happen to new deer coming into an infected area? It's a real Pandora's box.
Your post seems to suggest that CWD is an ancient disease that has gone undiagnosed. If so, why didn't we see symptoms in the past?

I wish I COULD just relax and play Russian roulette with the risk...but it is an avoidable risk, no?
Thank goodness it apparently cannot swim, so I can at least have my fish, lol.

 

[rookhawk]

Your post seems to suggest that CWD is an ancient disease that has gone undiagnosed. If so, why didn't we see symptoms in the past?

Not ancient, but certainly 1950s-1960s. I've been told the rumor that a University in Kansas/Oklahoma was playing with Scrapie in live sheep (madcow for sheep) and the deer study pen was adjacent. The Vets think it jumped species back then, I have no clue.

Mad Cow is a similar disease, but I do not see the same level of hysteria. The prions for MCD are all over Europe, yet I don't see them eschewing beef forevermore. That's in domestic stock of course so when one gets it, the rest can quickly follow.

But in wild cervids? Really? We're going to give up hunting and eating game because of a disease that has no evidence of crossing to humans? Just eat the meat, not the bones/CNS/brain/cord and move about your day.

 

[SafariCurious]

No.

I couldn't keep reading the other replies because there was way too much incorrect information in them.

Cooking does NOT denature prions. There is no known way to make infected meat safe to eat.

Prions can be found in the saliva and other places besides just the CNS, though the CNS contains the highest concentrations, once an animal is infected enough to test positive, there is no part of its body I'd consider safe to eat.

There has fortunately not yet been a known deer to human transfer, but keep in mind that dying of prion disease is one of the worst ways to die.

There is no cure. It is 100% fatal. It is slow, your mind slowly degrades into madness and dementia.

 

[jomw10]

There was a lot of concern/hysteria when mad cow first appear in the UK.
All meat exports from the UK were basically stopped and meat consumption drop significantly.
The UK slaughtered at least 4 millions head of cattle to try to contain the outbreak.
What we have with deer in the US is nothing compared to what happen in the UK.

 

[Vintageguy]

vCJD is extremely rare, with only a few hundred cases reported worldwide since its discovery in 1996. The incidence of vCJD has declined significantly in recent years due to stricter regulations on beef production.

You’ve known two people who died from a one-in-a-million disease. Presumably they were hunters? Food for thought…

Yes, the first was a coworker in the 90’s who was an avid hunter. His passing was a big deal locally with lots of issues involving burial. Nothing ever concluded as to how he got it. The second was the father of friend who didn’t hunt. Events were approx 30 years apart. Personally, rarity wouldn’t mean squat to me if I knew my animal tested positive but as the saying goes, you do you.

 

[Flbt]

folks when we bring studies and scientists in this conversation.
It was not long ago that mask you could breathe through stoped something.
Then they said if you could not breathe cut a nose hole in said mask.
Then if you were at a table you could eat with out the mask but could not be on the same room at the bar without it.
You could not go to a funeral but you were fine to protest in the streets ( ie set city’s on fire)

Not saying they do or don’t know about cwd
But just a reminder

 

[Tex .416]

One of the very bad consequences of CWD could be the loss of income to landowners who rely on hunters for income. Right now in South Texas, hunters’ revenue is the primary income source for many landowners. If that revenue is replaced with agriculture such as growing soybeans, solar panels, or wind turbines, all wildlife will suffer the loss of land protected by hunting revenue.

We in the US and EU love to preach to Africa about maintaining habitat for wildlife, yet we should be looking right in front of us and how we protect, or don’t, our own wildlife habitat.

 

[Flbt]

One of the very bad consequences of CWD could be the loss of income to landowners who rely on hunters for income. Right now in South Texas, hunters’ revenue is the primary income source for many landowners. If that revenue is replaced with agriculture such as growing soybeans, solar panels, or wind turbines, all wildlife will suffer the loss of land protected by hunting revenue.

We in the US and EU love to preach to Africa about maintaining habitat for wildlife, yet we should be looking right in front of us and how we protect, or don’t, our own wildlife habitat.

Right now I am putting in trees where everyone around me is putting in houses

 

[farmer_john]

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

Prions are neither virus or bacteria

 

[Tgood1]

yes i have received a crash course in pion-ism reading this thread. Very grateful we do not have to deal with it here, yet, allegedly.

 

[Doug Hamilton]

Well, here is my uneducated point of view. Most of us has probably already eaten it. You have to figure, how many deer or elk did you eat from a area, and then they say that CWD is in that same area, then they say, well in a 10mile area from this point, is a CWD area and all deer inside this area must be tested and we will issue more tags from that area, but just over this line, all is good? I live on the very edge of such a area, when I first moved here, everyone ate deer, elk, sheep and moose from this area, then about 5 years ago, they say CWD and all of a sudden, animals on one side of the ridge from me were bad and animals right around my house were good to go. It's like animals won't move, especially when pressured by wolves. I know lots of people that eat it without testing it, both inside and outside the zone, they just debone all of it. Also, the tests they run, they need the unfrozen head to test it, kinda makes you think...why unfrozen? You also have to remember, this was created in a lab and released into the wild. Kinda sounds familiar . What I do know is when the government shows up and says we are here to help, I run. First CWD, then wolves, then the jab...what is next on the list to depopulate the earth? By the way, I'd cook it well done and eat it.

You think CWD "was created in a lab? It was first discovered and identified at a research facility, It has also been stated that it came from privately owned animals that went to the facility That is not the same as creating it. Unless you believe that " mad cow" or scrapie Which have been around for decades also came from labs for si mm e nefarious purpose. BTW, cooking the meat well.done has no effect on the prions that cause these diseases. They aren't caused by bacteria or viruses. I do agree with you though that many of us have eaten meat from these animals without knowing it.

 

[Flbt]

You think CWD "was created in a lab? It was first discovered and identified at a research facility, It has also been stated that it came from privately owned animals that went to the facility That is not the same as creating it. Unless you believe that " mad cow" or scrapie Which have been around for decades also came from labs for si mm e nefarious purpose. BTW, cooking the meat well.done has no effect on the prions that cause these diseases. They aren't caused by bacteria or viruses. I do agree with you though that many of us have eaten meat from these animals without knowing it.

Actually I have heard from people. At the fl and ga cattlemen meeting that yes some thought mad cow was made