Important health issue - game butchering

[The Hermit]

Are there any butchers out there that can shed some light on just WTF gullet trimming is? See Below. Thanks

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Malvinder S Parmar

Medical Director (Internal Medicine), Timmins and District Hospital, Suite 108, 707 Ross Ave East, Timmins, ON P4N 8R1, Canada. atbeatATntl.sympatico.ca

To the Editor: I wish to add another cause of exogenous hyperthyroidism to those mentioned in the comprehensive review on hyper- and hypothyroidism by Topliss and Eastman.1

Inadvertent ingestion of animal thyroid (“hamburger” thyrotoxicosis), although rare, is worth mentioning. Meat may be inadvertently contaminated with thyroid tissue through the process of “gullet trimming” during butchering. While this process has been prohibited in most countries since the recognition of outbreaks of hamburger thyrotoxicosis, 2, 3 it may still occur when farm animals or wild game are prepared for consumption by farmers, hunters or local butchers unaware of the prohibition.

I recently reported a case of a woman living on a farm in Canada who had five episodes of transient hyperthyroidism over a decade.4 These were initially diagnosed as episodes of “silent thyroiditis”, but were later attributed to consumption of meat patties contaminated with thyroid tissue, as the local butcher was not aware of the prohibition on gullet trimming. A history of eating wild game or locally prepared meat should be considered before a diagnosis of silent thyroiditis is made. Thyroid uptake of radioiodine is low in both conditions, but serum thyroglobulin level is raised in thyroiditis and decreased during the hyperthyroid phase of exogenous hyperthyroidism.

Topliss DJ, Eastman CJ. Diagnosis and management of hyperthyroidism and hypothyroidism. Med J Aust 2004; 180: 186-193. <eMJA full text> <PubMed>
Hedberg CW, Fishbein DB, Janssen RS, et al. An outbreak of thyrotoxicosis caused by the consumption of bovine thyroid in ground beef. N Engl J Med 1987; 316: 993-998. <PubMed>
Kinney JS, Hurwitz ES, Fishbein DB, et al. Community outbreak of thyrotoxicosis: epidemiology, immunogenetic characteristics, and long-term outcome. Am J Med 1998; 84: 10-18.
Parmar MS, Sturge C. Recurrent hamburger thyrotoxicosis. CMAJ 2003; 169: 415-417. <PubMed>

[lilhoss]

The area in front of the windpipe/larynx in the meat tissues of the frontal neck.Generally the front throat is opened up and the windpipe,esophageaos,is removed during the skinning and field dressing.The neck meat sometimes gets cut up into burger or sausage meat.I wouldn't worry about wild game though as the thyroid produces hormones to moderate your immune system.Any farm raised animals with any type of hormones injections for growth,etc,would adversely affect the thyroid.Another good reason to eat the wild game we all love!

[Jagermeister]

I guess if you're going to use the neck meat, you will just have to be careful not to cross contaminate. Much the same as you try not to cross contaminate with the stomach and intestinal tract.

[buck nash]

This is another good reason to include a detailed section on field dressing in the core program. I still can't see why it's not. If it was up to me the program would include basic butchering. How much meat is either wasted or eaten unsafely due to lack of knowledge. Sure you can buy dvds or watch you tube but it's not like seeing it first hand.

[308Lover]

A rutting buck or a bull moose neck is the most putrid meat. I cut the head and neck off pretty close to the body. Although the meat looks great, I'd certainly not cut it up for my own use, nor as dog food. Just a bit leery perhaps, but that's the way it's always been in my family .
I've cleaned beef on the farm, but then sent the halves to the butcher/food locker, so don't know what they did.

[835]

Id like a couple of our butcher members to weigh in here too.
I have wasted neck meat in any animal that wasnt shot there. I cut off the head damn near at the ears. November Mulie or October Bull Moose.

[winchester284]

A rutting buck or a bull moose neck is the most putrid meat. I cut the head and neck off pretty close to the body. Although the meat looks great, I'd certainly not cut it up for my own use, nor as dog food. Just a bit leery perhaps, but that's the way it's always been in my family .
I've cleaned beef on the farm, but then sent the halves to the butcher/food locker, so don't know what they did.

What's the problem with the neck meat on a rutting bull or buck? It's just extra blood due to the rut. I do find the burger I make from the neck is extra bloody but it doesn't taste different than any other part of the animal. Any scent glands on the outside of the body won't taint the meat unless the meat makes contact with the animal's hair or scent glands.

[308Lover]

Well Winchester,I only speak from the experience of trying to eat meat (hamburger) some of which came fom the swollen neck of a muley buck. There's probably nothing "wrong" with the meat, but go ahead--try it yourself. The post was about possible disease, and I replied in terms of how I was taught as a youngster--and my teachers were life-long hunters. I personally do not like the taste.

[Moose Guide]

My family has been butchering our own wild and farm animals for centuries and we use the whole neck!!! If you shot your moose it probably bled out into the chest cavity(blood coagulates, the juice in meat is not blood) If you have extra blood in your hamburger it would be like red jelly, stop strangling your moose.

[madrona sh]

Hmmm hunters strangling Moose is a sign of hard times in BC. Ammo prices are up.