Venison concerns?

[McDave]

Originally posted by Sam McMichael:
I have never understood what the genetic alteration actually does to the grain and subsequently to the meat of animals that feed on it. What are the health hazards?

The way I understand it - we don't know....That's the problem. Just like we burned ethyl gasoline for years before we realized we were getting lead poisoning, and smoked cigarettes for years before we realized we were getting cancer, we could be doing something to ourselves by eating GM food that we may not realize for years. OTOH, it might be fine.

[Sarah]

Sam, one of the main issues is that animals like cows and deer are ruminants. Unlike other mammals, they digest food by essentially fermenting (or ruminating) it in their stomachs. "Sweet" foods like grains turn sour in their stomachs and can cause health problems and change the composition of their meat (especially in terms of the balance of Omega 3/Omega 6 fatty acids). This is very well documented in cattle, and I'd wager it can be seen in farmed deer herds as well. These animals simply are meant to eat green, leaf-based diets (sometimes supplemented by grains etc.), not diets dominated by grains. This occurs whether or not GMO's are present.

There are many reasons why animals that eat grain-based diets have meat that is fattier and gain weight faster (and the opposite is generally true of wild game or grass-fed meat livestock). The availability of grains in the Midwest has certainly contributed to the monstrous bucks that live there.

The above is of course a simplification, and there are many factors one could consider when choosing what to eat or what not to eat. Wild deer are probably more wholesome than other options, but the quality of their meat is certainly affected by their feed.

Great conversation!

[ksbowman]

Ya gotta die of something! I'll take my chances with venison. Cattle other than those grown on my farm and others like me are pumped full of antibiotics and hormones and I'm sure the deer aren't!

[Cyclic-Rivers]

I guess you could always hunt in the wilderness areas???

wish I had something constructive to add.

[achigan]

Your store bought meat, be it chikn', pork or beef(salmon too for the most part) has been shot full f growth hormones and anti-biotics, not so our deer.
 Freshwater fishermen are watching studies showing fish turning up with confused sex identities, thought to be from flushed birth control pills or urine from women using them... lots still unknown there.
 Our midwest deer will run into pesticides, herbicides and fertilizer, but not the other stuff. I won't throw up my hands and say there's nothing we can do, but I will take what precautions I can.

[jsweka]

Eat it.  It's fine.

Hey, I like the idea of having all my food be "organic" too (I hate that term because just about everything is organic - if it has carbon in it, its an organic compound - even pesticides are organic compounds).  But the truth is that the world's population could not exist on "organic" food alone - and we would have to lose a lot more of our hunting grounds if we tried.

There's really no evidence that "organic" foods are any healthier.  Check out this link

  http://healthpolicy.stanford.edu/news/stanford_study_shows_little_evidence_of_health_benefits_from_organic_foods_20120904/  

So eat that deer and enjoy it.

[Sarah]

Yep - venison probably isn't contaminated by hormones or antibiotics. A big plus!

More on the GMO side note for those that are interested:  http://www.loe.org/shows/segments.html?programID=13-P13-00025&segmentID=1

From the bottom of that page you can download a PDF version of the full scientific report, if you're into that sort of thing.  

[Doc Nock]

Isn't it true that wild game does NOT have fat-marbled meat?

Their fat is all on the outside of their meat, or between muscle groups?

I do my own deer processing and always have. I trim all the deer fat off the animal possible because deer fat will...WILL turn rancid in the freezer!

Sarah's point about being ruminants is interesting. But wild animals don't survive long without balance.  Unlike domesticated animals that lost all God'-given common sense, I'd think (hope?) that deer and other wild game "sense" when their diet is out-of-whack and eat what is best for them.

Having said that, some years go, pheasants (when we still had them in PA) carried a warning, as they birds were following behind corn PLANTERS and eating mercury treated grains (to prevent rotting in the soil before sprouting) and had mercury in their fat... so it was advised that one cook them on a trivet and throw away the broth!    :eek:  

That was freaky...but alas, no longer a concern as wild-bred birds are pretty much gone with clean farming!

Remove the fat and many risks are abated!

[Sarah]

Doc is right about removing the fat. The storage of toxins in fat cells is a biological "defense mechanism" to remove the toxins from the bloodstream. Removing as much fat as possible is a good way to avoid eating the toxins that may be stored there.

Source: My mother is a nutritionist. This is the kind of stuff we talk about on a daily basis.  

[ChristopherO]

My concern is more about spring and early summer deer, ie: roadkill, because that is when the vast majority of the herbacides and pesticides, and some fungicides are sprayed on crops and trees.  I was raised on a crop farm/ orchard and had the license to do so many years ago.  
With that said the liver will filter out much of these contaminants so I don't think I would want to eat the liver in those months. Good thing I don't enjoy liver.  By the time this time of year rolls around about the main spraying that would be done is herbacides to kill off grasses to make way for something else to be used for that area.  I doubt that this is prevalent for the lyon's share of farms in a deer's range.
On the other side of the coin;  I would be much more concerned about too much meat from deer consuming treated lawn grasses all summer.

[LookMomNoSights]

What can ya do......    
Dont eat the liver!!!!

[Bear Heart]

Originally posted by Todd Cook:
I to have thought about this. I love the idea of completely organic, untainted meat, but I'm not sure it's even possible. Most water sources nowadays have at least some contamination. acid rain; even our air is not as clean as it once was.

Now that I've upset everyone, the upside: Deer are browsers by nature, and most of the year eat more native plants than anything else. I say eat as clean as you can and be happy. Venison is much leaner than beef also.

Actually our air is much cleaner than 150 years ago.  How do you think they heated homes and factories?  Where do you think the tannery chemicals went?