Test Bear Meat for Trichinosis

[warbird2006]

Ministry of Agriculture does not do the testing any more.

I used to take the frozen and vacuum packed to Brookside Cold Storage to freeze store at -22C for 35 months. Brookside was bought and don't offer freezing storage to small firms or private individuals.
Canadian Food Inspection Agency told me to find a private lab, but I was not lucky to find one.

I do bear sausages and just want to be 100% sure.


If you know any lab which would do the Trichinosis testing or freezer which would take the meat, let me know.

And please do not remind me I should cook it. :) thanks

[.330 Dakota]

So,, a couple of questions and I'm not being a smartass,,, 1) does that say freezing it for 35 months or 3 to 5 months? 2) if you smoke them in a smoker is that considered cooked enough? 3) why would you have it tested if your'e going to thoroughly cook it?I am asking because I love bear meat, but know very little about it.

[The Dawg]

Freezing doesnt kill trich.

Cooking does

Reminded again, yes.


So cook it- you'll be fine

[Barracuda]

if he gets it tested then if he chooses to have it medium or cold smoked etc then he can

[caddisguy]

So,, a couple of questions and I'm not being a smartass,,, 1) does that say freezing it for 35 months or 3 to 5 months? 2) if you smoke them in a smoker is that considered cooked enough? 3) why would you have it tested if your'e going to thoroughly cook it?I am asking because I love bear meat, but know very little about it.

Bear meat needs to get to an internal temperature of 165F to be safe. Freezing won't reliably kill trich. There is very little point in testing for trich, because you can't rule out trich 100% just because they don't find it in the sample. Even if the test was negative, and that the the bear didn't really have trich, it likely has other parasites like tape worms that are just as bad, if not worse than trich.

Pretty much all the bears in my area this year had tape worm segments in there scat. Food for thought!!! ;-P

[Slinky Pickle]

Time vs temperature. Freezing won't kill Trich but you don't need 165F either. Just my CAN$0.02

http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CFR-2001-title9-vol2/pdf/CFR-2001-title9-vol2-sec318-10.pdf

[scott_karana]

Time vs temperature. Freezing won't kill Trich but you don't need 165F either. Just my CAN$0.02

http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CFR-2001-title9-vol2/pdf/CFR-2001-title9-vol2-sec318-10.pdf
Thank you! Too many people overcook meat because they don't realize this :-)

[835]

Slinky,,, i read a tiny bit of that.... it refered to Pork Trich... i stopped there.. Pork Trich is different from Bear... you need to treat it differently.. i may be missing some part of your article but......
Pig trich is NOT the same as bear Tric Bear tric is harder to kill..... ill try to fint it again,,,,

[Slinky Pickle]

Slinky,,, i read a tiny bit of that.... it refered to Pork Trich... i stopped there.. Pork Trich is different from Bear... you need to treat it differently.. i may be missing some part of your article but......
Pig trich is NOT the same as bear Tric Bear tric is harder to kill..... ill try to fint it again,,,,

You could very well be correct. This link tells a bit more of the story but still does not specifically say that bear meat should (or shouldn't) be safe at the same temperatures as pork.

https://en.wikipedia.org/?title=Trichinosis

[835]

i looked into it years ago,, and posted the links here.. but i cant remember what it was... i know it was from reputable sites..
it basically said Pork Trick can be killed by freezing but bear trich needed temps colder then your home freezer would ever get .. and the hot end was higher for Bear as well...

i googled a bit looking for what i found, but all i could see was "Trich in pork and bear" ... i dunno..... for what ever reasons i keep passing up bears anyway.. so this is little trouble for me!

[scoutlt1]

Another reminder that you aren't looking for....but....

Freezing does not safely kill bear trich.

Cook your bear meat properly and it's all good.

Sorry for the reminder. Again. :)

[timbermilton]

I've eaten bear for over 30 years, it's a steady staple in our house. kids love it. we have always cooked it just like pork and mountain lion and have never been sick from it. i've eaten bear tenderloins hours after the kill, in camp, fried up with mushrooms and onions in olive oil. mmmmmm tasty.

[wideopenthrottle]

there was another thread a while ago talking about white worms in the meat of bears..they are not tric but
filarial worms...a very good poster reminded us not to eat them uncooked...I think he said it was because they are white "spirit worms" and need to be protected..heheheheh
http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/wld/documents/wldhealth/diseases_from_wildlife_safetymanual.pdf found this link but haven't read it yet

[Rhyno]

Who cares if it has trich.....have you tried cooking it throughly:razz:

[warbird2006]

First of all, I love sausages, but even when you smoke them, temperature may not reach 160F. I grind all the game meat scraps and feed it to my dogs with cooked rice. I want to throw out the bare minimum from harvested game.But I do not want my dogs to get trichs.
Also you do not test actual meat, but tongue of the bear. So the tests are 100%.

[walks with deer]

Somebody watched to much meat Eater. Assume they all have trich

[caddisguy]

I don't know why this keeps coming up... seems like there are some labs hyping it up. Even with the tongue, I do not think it's 100% but even it the trich test actually was 100% it makes no difference. There's half a dozen other nasties common in bears that will put just as much hurt on you if you don't cook it thoroughly. Look closely at bears and some bear scat. Half the bear scat I look at has tapeworm segments... 1/4 of bears have tapeworms popping out their rear end... you can see it with your binos!!! The muscle is *full* of eggs/larva. Who the heck would bother testing for trick? Look at your bear meat closely. Your trich test won't tell you what little eggs/larva reside in each and every one of them little 1-2mm cysts. You'd have to take the WHOLE bear to a lab and pay a several hundred bucks if you wanted to rule out with 60% "certainty" most things that could mess you up for eating it undercooked. What's with the recent trich hype? Is it being pumped for $$$?

Whenever I see someone recommending trich tests it makes my feel like my mom just told me the mechanic said it cost $30 to change her turning signal fluid.

Cook your bear, no worries, end of story.