# Deer Processing



## tonyvan

I hunt/live in Southwest Michigan and the local news station (WNDU out of South Bend) reported that "many butchers aren't touching venison" on their lead story about deer hunting and disease concerns from 9/29/02. I emailed the station asking about which local meat processors are not taking deer this year and haven't gotten a response thus far.

Has anyone else heard this to be true? To me this becomes a big potential issue. Thanks


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## terry

re- "many butchers aren't touching venison" 

re- To me this becomes a big potential issue

greetings,

indeed, it should be a big issue. until
more is known about this agent, and
from what is _already_ known, you cannot hardly blame the processors.

kind regards,
terry

OPINION AND REPORT
ASSESSMENT OF THE HUMAN BSE RISK POSED BY
BOVINE VERTEBRAL COLUMN
INCLUDING DORSAL ROOT GANGLIA.

http://europa.eu.int/comm/food/fs/sc/ssc/out264_en.pdf

TSE INFECTIVITY DISTRIBUTION IN RUMINANT TISSUES (STATE
OF KNOWLEDGE, DECEMBER 2001)
ADOPTED BY 
THE SCIENTIFIC STEERING COMMITTEE 
AT ITS MEETING OF 10-11 JANUARY 2002

http://europa.eu.int/comm/food/fs/sc/ssc/out241_en.pdf

OPINION
ORAL EXPOSURE OF HUMANS TO THE BSE AGENT:
INFECTIVE DOSE AND SPECIES BARRIER

http://europa.eu.int/comm/food/fs/sc/ssc/out79_en.pdf

New studies on the heat resistance of hamster-adapted scrapie agent: Threshold survival after ashing at 600°C suggests an inorganic template of replication
Paul Brown*, [dagger ] , Edward H. Rau [Dagger ] , Bruce K. Johnson*, Alfred E. Bacote*, Clarence J. Gibbs Jr.*, and D. Carleton Gajdusek§

* Laboratory of Central Nervous System Studies, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, and [Dagger ] Environmental Protection Branch, Division of Safety, Office of Research Services, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892; and § Institut Alfred Fessard, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, 91198 Gif sur Yvette, France

Contributed by D. Carleton Gajdusek, December 22, 1999

Abstract
Top
Abstract
Introduction
Materials and Methods
Results
Discussion
References

One-gram samples from a pool of crude brain tissue from hamsters infected with the 263K strain of hamster-adapted scrapie agent were placed in covered quartz-glass crucibles and exposed for either 5 or 15 min to dry heat at temperatures ranging from 150°C to 1,000°C. Residual infectivity in the treated samples was assayed by the intracerebral inoculation of dilution series into healthy weanling hamsters, which were observed for 10 months; disease transmissions were verified by Western blot testing for proteinase-resistant protein in brains from clinically positive hamsters. Unheated control tissue contained 9.9 log10LD50/g tissue; after exposure to 150°C, titers equaled or exceeded 6 log10LD50/g, and after exposure to 300°C, titers equaled or exceeded 4 log10LD50/g. Exposure to 600°C completely ashed the brain samples, which, when reconstituted with saline to their original weights, transmitted disease to 5 of 35 inoculated hamsters. No transmissions occurred after exposure to 1,000°C. These results suggest that an inorganic molecular template with a decomposition point near 600°C is capable of nucleating the biological replication of the scrapie agent.

transmissible spongiform encephalopathy | scrapie | prion | medical waste | incineration

Introduction
Top
Abstract
Introduction
Materials and Methods
Results
Discussion
References

The infectious agents responsible for transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (TSE) are notoriously resistant to most physical and chemical methods used for inactivating pathogens, including heat. It has long been recognized, for example, that boiling is ineffective and that higher temperatures are most efficient when combined with steam under pressure (i.e., autoclaving). As a means of decontamination, dry heat is used only at the extremely high temperatures achieved during incineration, usually in excess of 600°C. It has been assumed, without proof, that incineration totally inactivates the agents of TSE, whether of human or animal origin. It also has been assumed that the replication of these agents is a strictly biological process (1), although the notion of a "virus" nucleant of an inorganic molecular cast of the infectious [beta ] -pleated peptide also has been advanced (2). In this paper, we address these issues by means of dry heat inactivation studies.

snip...

in other words, wear a space suit comparison to bio 5 and be sure 
to clean you knives at temps
around 1,000 C. of course with 
these temps, you will have no 
knife left. when doing autopsy 
on CJD victim (including sporadic
CJDs), they were these same space
suits. so should be no difference
for cleaning deer/elk.

TSE SAFETY

http://www.archive.official-documents.co.uk/document/doh/spongifm/contents.htm

OR, just ignore all pesent data,
have a great hunt, and forget 
about it. hope you grow old and
die of natural causes before any
potential incubation period of any
potential TSE you may have ingested
or _innoculated_ through processing.
but by far, you are probably more likely
to acquire a TSE through surgery AND
or medical/surgical arena, like CLEANING AND GUTTING A DEER/ELK. 
(my opinion)...

but by all means, keep
feeding those deer and elk piles 
and piles of animal protein and
continue to ignore transmission 
studies, known route/source;-( 

TSS


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## Cap'nJon

Alot of the deer prossessors here in da west end of da U.P and the Northwoods of Wis won't be doing any deer this fall...
Wis is hurting from this driven by the MEDIA WHORES!


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## tdavisster

tonyvan said:


> I hunt/live in Southwest Michigan and the local news station (WNDU out of South Bend) reported that "many butchers aren't touching venison" on their lead story about deer hunting and disease concerns from 9/29/02. I emailed the station asking about which local meat processors are not taking deer this year and haven't gotten a response thus far.
> 
> Has anyone else heard this to be true? To me this becomes a big potential issue. Thanks


 
I work for a small processor in Dowagiac and as far as I know, all processors around here are taking deer.


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## streamertosser

check out the date from the original post on this thread. i'm sure that attitude WAS relatively common at the beginning/height of the bovine TB scare.


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## jonelee

hello, It is wonderful information about deer processing. i am not aware about it. I know trout this forum.


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