Bear Trichinosis

[Don]

A couple of days ago my brother in law brings me some bear meat he had given to him by an aquaintance. Last night I cook the steak to a medium rare to rare state and eat it and gave two small pieces to my son. Later that evening he calls me to ask how it was and then informs me I should have cooked it thouroghly because of the possibility of trichinosis. Thanks, a little late I say to my self. Any way should I be concerned or am I over reacting.

Don

 

[Bob Riegl]

:grin: The concern is quite real as trichinosis more than occasionally makes it's way into bear meat. It is more usually attributed to pork. Personally, I cook all games meats to the done stage---no sign of rareness. Since I usually cook a pot roast with venison, caribou, elk that precludes any rareness whatsoever.I think that when I have venison steaks, they have a slight degree of rareness at the November Schutzenfest of the Brooklyn Schutzen Verein. However, venison has not been known to be infested with trichina worms (to my knowledge ). BTW I have never eaten bear, but have enjoyed wild boar steaks on many occasions. :thumbsup:

 

[biliff]

FWIW, Here's a link to the CDC fact sheet on trichinosis:CDC link

 

[Gary]

Don,

If you dye, kin ah git your guns?

Gary the Predator. :winking:

 

[Don]

More like Gary the scavenger!

Thanks for the replies

Don

 

[spitfire]

In my career in the Medical Field I have seen one case of Trichinosis.A elderly patient with the worms infesting the brain.The medication used to treat at the time cost $600 a dose daily.The patient died with Dementia in the ICU.The pathologist figured he had possiably contracted the Disease as far back as 20 years.So be careful.Bears are omnivores like pigs thus making them prone to contract the disease. :hmm:

 

[bigbore442001]

I've always cooked bear well done. The best way is all day in the crockpot.

 

[shmrck1]

I have had bear 3 or 4 times always in a stew
and always well cooked...No problems, but then it
hasn't been 20 years either :rotf:
snake-eyes :hatsoff:

 

[pharmvet]

Had the bear meat been frozen, and if so for how long? With pork, freezing for 30 days prior to cooking has been recommended.

 

[biliff]

Had the bear meat been frozen, and if so for how long? With pork, freezing for 30 days prior to cooking has been recommended.

Apparently freezing wild game meat doesn't guarantee killing off the parasite. Not sure exactly why that's different from pork but everything I've read says freezing wild game isn't a sure bet.

 

[shmrck1]

pharmvet,
In the one case I know it had never
been frozen because I saw the bear butcherd and that was the meat I cut up and used in my stew.
The other time the bear meat had been frozen, but
I cooked it the same way I did with the fresh meat. Again let me say in both cases the meat was
well cooked, to the point of falling apart.
The animals I worry about under cooking are
chickens,turkeys and other fowl.
I have eaten raw hamburger and onion
sandwiches as long as I can remember, with no ill
effects that I know of. Other than grossing out my
wife. Any other raw meat eater oldtimers out
there.
snake-eyes :hmm:

 

[JimG]

Yup, me. I LOVE raw meat. Bacon, steaks, etc. Chicken and fish though need cooked. Not burnt, just heated up. Grosses people out all the time. Raw bacon is like a drug to me! :youcrazy:

 

[renovato]

I have eaten raw hamburger and onion
sandwiches as long as I can remember, with no ill
effects that I know of. Other than grossing out my
wife.

And at least one MLF reader. Ewww! :blah:

 

[shmrck1]

plink,
Oh, I know it is not for everyone, but it
is not unheard of either. Tar-Tar is served in
some of the best eateries in the world.Some
5 star.
Had a local Pub serve raw ground round
and onion sandwiches,every Thursday
for years until they went, retired. At the time
Thursday was their biggest day of the week.
I know, go figure!
snake-eyes :hmm:

 

[Deadeye]

Eating raw bacon is where your more likely to get trichinosis. Many people in the south used to have it from eating some of the outside of hams
that had been smoked in a smokehouse but not cooked. Once their in a cyst inside your muscles
you can never get rid of them unless something eats you then it will get them. Through cooking is the only answer to pork or bear meat.

 

[JimG]

What are the symptoms of tric?

 

[shmrck1]

deadeye,
Does 0 degrees freezing affect this little
worm or is heating its only enemy?
If you get it how do they treat it?
Sounds like a horror movie in the making...Did
you hear that Mr King.
Sorry if I treat this lightly but it is
just not an issue with me.
I eat my bacon cooked but limp, my pork
chops medium, as well as my pork roast.
The one thing I fully cook is chicken and
other fowl and I only eat white meat from them.
Plus, all wild game. But that is me. I know
there are other opinions.
snake-eyes :v

 

[Deadeye]

Freezing doesn't kill them, only through cooking.
The worm is in a cyst that is disolved by the acids in your stomach then they travel up thru your lungs and eventually back into the bloodstream which carries them into the muscles.
If you had a lot of them in, say, an arm muscle is would be sore but if in the heart muscle it would be bad, big time. Hog farms are regulated now and are only supposed to be fed cooked food
but better to make sure by cooking your pork. Wild pigs all have it because they eat anything.

 

[dlocke]

Raw bacon eh? Reminds me of a line. . .
"Ah likes to feel te grayus drippin down me chin!"
As for bear, yeah, I'd cook it up well.
DJL

 

[Juggernaut]

A couple of days ago my brother in law brings me some bear meat he had given to him by an aquaintance. Last night I cook the steak to a medium rare to rare state and eat it and gave two small pieces to my son. Later that evening he calls me to ask how it was and then informs me I should have cooked it thouroghly because of the possibility of trichinosis. Thanks, a little late I say to my self. Any way should I be concerned or am I over reacting.



Don

Yes you must completely cook Bear it is a close relative of the pig and the meat should be treated as such

Juggernaut