Wild game meat - Information for hunters

Wild game meat, like farmed meat, is a highly perishable food that may contain microorganisms that cause food poisoning. Hunters must keep in mind that they and their friends and family will be the ones eating the meat from the animals they hunt.

This means it’s important to follow best practices in handing and storing meat, and when preparing wild game, you are required to comply with certain standards.

Avoid hunting and handling animals with an abnormal appearance, unusual behaviour or that show signs of disease.

Bleeding, gutting and cooling have a major effect on preserving meat.

Bleeding

Generally, bleeding caused by the projectile when the animal is shot is sufficient. However, cutting the animal’s neck is recommended so that it can be accessed for improved bleeding. If you plan to mount the head, make the incision from the entrance to the chest cavity toward the heart.

Gutting

Gutting, or removing internal organs, such as the heart, liver, stomach and intestines, must be done immediately after the animal dies. This also helps speed up the cooling process.

Avoid puncturing or tearing the intestines, as that can contaminate the meat. Bacteria found in intestinal contents can cause food poisoning, especially when the meat is not sufficiently cooked before being consumed (rare or medium-rare).

Dirt and other impurities should be removed, especially any traces of fecal matter. Use a clean knife to remove a layer of meat. Do not rinse the carcass with water to remove impurities; that will contaminate the meat. You must also seek out and remove any parts of the carcass that are bruised or damaged or appear abnormal.

Wait until you are out of the forest to skin your game (or have it skinned), because the skin protects the meat from contaminants. You should always wear single-use gloves when skinning or gutting an animal. This is especially true with hares, which may carry a bacteria that causes tularemia, an infectious disease transmissible to humans.

Cooling

Cool the carcass as quickly as possible. Ideally, you should cool it to 7°C within the first 24 hours.

If the game must be left in the forest, place it on a stretcher or suspend it from a tree out of reach of predators. Use solid branches to keep the chest open to allow for cooling. Do not leave the carcass directly on the ground.

Place sufficiently large branches on the floor of your vehicle, under the carcass, to facilitate air circulation.

Ideally, the carcass should be kept at temperatures between 0°C and 4°C during transport and storage to limit bacterial growth.

Avoid transporting the carcass on your vehicle’s roof or hood because of the heat it releases. Minimize the carcass’s exposure to sunlight.

Slaughterhouses, delicatessens, game processing services and wholesale butchers can store, cut and prepare wild game carcasses. These establishments are inspected by the Ministère de l’Agriculture, des Pêcheries et de l’Alimentation and comply with its requirements.

Some establishments have the facilities and equipment required to skin moose, white-tailed deer, caribou or bear carcasses.

Below are the requirements for preparation in food establishments:

• Wild game carcasses must be gutted and properly identified (species, hunter and date) before being taken to a food establishment. 
• You must inform the operator if you notice anything in particular or if the carcass has any anomalies. The operator must refuse to process a carcass that could negatively affect the safety of the meat, the staff or the facility.
• Skinned carcasses must be wrapped in kraft paper and cheesecloth.
• Meat must be returned to hunters after processing. Sale is prohibited. 

Any meat or offal that has an abnormal colour, odour or texture or comes from a sick animal must not be consumed.

You should:

• Store all frozen meat in the freezer at -18°C or colder.
• Store all fresh meat in the refrigerator, between 0°C and 4°C. 
• Cook game meat properly, especially bear meat, reaching a cooking temperature of 74°C.

You can check the temperature by placing a reliable thermometer in the fleshiest part of the meat. Avoid measuring near a bone or in fat to prevent an inaccurate reading.

Bear meat can contain a parasite called Trichinella sp. that is transmissible to humans and causes trichinellosis. The same goes for hare meat: it can be contaminated by the bacteria Francisella tularensis, which causes tularemia.

Never feed lungs or livers to pets (dogs or cats), as this could transmit parasites to them.

Cervids

Do not eat the liver or kidneys of cervids, because they can contain high levels of cadmium. This contamination is primarily caused by atmospheric cadmium emissions that land on the plants cervids eat. One meal of contaminated cervid kidneys could contain up to 100 times more cadmium than the World Health Organization guidelines permit. Cadmium builds up in the liver and kidneys, and eliminating it is a very slow process.

As for chronic wasting disease (CWD) in cervids, to date, no cases have been detected among wild cervids in Québec. CWD is not considered to be transmissible to humans. As a precaution, however, consuming or using the tissue of an infected animal is not recommended.