Bear Jerky and Trich.

[Dirty]

I was wondering if anybody on the site makes Bear Jerky and what you do to prevent trich. I want to turn my spring bear in to jerky and sausage so I want to make sure I know the facts before proceeding. How about pepperoni, is there any trich concern with it?

[Browningmirage]

sausage and pepperoni no...as long as you get the internal temp to 170 before eating.

In disease and parasites, we learned that most things can be killed by freezing for 3 weeks or so. But I have heard that polar bear meat has been thawed and has had fully infective cysts, so you might want to look into jerky a bit more before deciding.

Potentially a decent brine would kill the cysts.

[Ambush]

I've made and eaten a lot of bear jerky over many years. My kids all teethed on it. I freeze it for about two months [that's double over kill] and then process. Lately I've gone to making ground jerky with one of the jerky guns. If I need a quick batch, I do it in the dehydrator instead of the smoke house.

Make sure you remove ALL fat and gristle. The fat goes rancid and gristle won't get tender no matter how many times you put it through the grinder. If grinding, cube it to start with, then add your spices and let it sit over night. Run it through the grinder and then run it through one more time.

If using slices, keep the meat nearly frozen and use only meat from the hinds. If it would be a good steak, it will be great jerky.

Bear meat is plentiful and easy to get, so use good cuts, even if you're grinding it. And you can't turn a stinky old boar into a tender young'n by making jerky. But you can make it more palatable.

[spreerider]

I made jerky this year, i sliced up some meat then mixed a marinade then baked the meat in the marinade untill 170C.
Then i cooled the meat and put it in the smoker for a couple hours, took it out just as it was dry to my liking and it was great, 1/2 a bear lasted 2 days after a some friends and family came by.

[Steeleco]

I've made it a few times using the Jerky gun too. Works great. All you need is 2 min at 170*f to kill off any trick. I usually just give it 5 min in the oven after it's been in the dehydrator to near completion. It's always good!!

[Gateholio]

I think you can send off the tongue for testing:p

[Dannybuoy]

just to add that the temp that it is frozen to is just as important as the temp that it is heated to if you want to kill parasites ..... I can t remember exactly how far below zero you have to go and for how long (30 days?) . My Dad was a provincial meat inspector for years and had no problem with eating bear when handled correctly .

[Browningmirage]

Just looked at some lecture notes. There are several different species. It says freeze (unknown temp) for 3-4 weeks. Humans are a dead end host, rarely fatal, but extremely uncomfortable, and there is no known cure or treatment for the larval stage. Apparently the encysted nematode can cause muscle atrophy, which is probably where the uncomfortable thing comes in. Problems arise when it gets into the CNS...understandably.

The centre for disease control says that freezing wild game (eg bear) will not always kill the larval worms, as those species are much more resilient to freezing. the only way to be sure is to cook it to 170 internal temperature.

[Dirty]

I think you can send off the tongue for testing:p


Saw the sticky, and the Agri. Testing Centre is all but 5 minutes away. Might be worth the 30 bones for peace of mind.