If I get back into hunting I'll definitley be doing that. I'll get my own friggin grinder set up. I can do sausage, burger, stew meat, and my favorite, BACKSTRAP!
-
ODT Gun Show & Swap Meet - May 4, 2024! - Click here for info
Do deer processors REALLY give you YOUR deer meat?
- Thread starter Comanche
- Start date
If I get back into hunting I'll definitley be doing that. I'll get my own friggin grinder set up. I can do sausage, burger, stew meat, and my favorite, BACKSTRAP!
Unless things have changed there really isn't any real regulation on deer processors. That being said if things have changed I'd be interested in reading the new regs. I knew of one inspector getting ran out of a processors years ago by a half crazy woman that I knew. Thats when he discovered that he had know legal authority to be there.
"Most wild game is not amenable to mandatory FSIS inspection under the Federal Meat Inspection Act..."
That being said, as stated below. If any processor is making sausage with any other meat then deer or other wild game (over 3% raw & 2% cooked) that has previously or does fall under inspection by the FMIA, regulated by the USDA & Georgia Department of Agriculture, they're accountable for their actions and can be challenged in court to retain a HACCP plan as well as legal permits and identification of all meat and constant id throughout the whole act of processing. Although the state may not enforce, if you make a stink, they'd be obligated and the Department of Health would intervene. The processor would argue the product is not being sold, although even if provided, the fact remains such regulated product is it on site makes a HACCP required. If you need a HACCP, you fall under the department of healths jurisdiction and so on.
Straight from the FSIS in regards to USDA & FDA, code in regards to wild game processing.
"Processed products that include both wild game and amenable meat or poultry may be subject to mandatory FSIS inspection. Processed products generally are amenable to mandatory inspection if they contain as little as 3 percent raw or 2 percent cooked meat from an amenable animal, together with other safe and suitable ingredients. If produced in accordance with all applicable regulatory requirements, any product subject to mandatory inspection will bear the round USDA mark of inspection.
Inspected establishments are required to provide assurance that all ingredients, including non-amenable animal tissues, used in FSIS-inspected products are clean, sound, healthful, wholesome, and properly identified. Such assurance is generally not possible with an animal killed by a hunter and then transported to the establishment by the hunter. There is not sufficient knowledge about the animal necessary to conclude that the meat from that animal is not adulterated."
Mac if I read that correctly nothing has really changed. Unless the processor is using pork fat (many do) that has been previously inspected in the ground product there isn't any grounds for inspection. Your best bet on inspecting of a game processor is your own eyes and nose. If you don't like what you see or smell go elsewhere.Ask to see the cooler where your deer is hung also. Some just stack the deer on top of each other. no matter how well you do your job it can be ruined by having someone else's ill prepped deer on top. I'll never forget the one I saw that looked like it had been done to perfection. It hung for about 10 or 12 days just as the hunter requested. It also had a full bladder of urine that dripped through the cavity and across the deer under it the entire time. Did I mention I'm pretty choosy about any deer I eat? Saw way to much of junk like that. It is just to easy to learn how to do something like prepping a deer for the table. These observations are from some years back. Maybe there is a hew breed of processors out there now...........
You're missing the point. If they're using pre inspected amenable animals (fall under Georgia DOA, subject to inspection also though I've never met a processor that doesn't have ground pork or beef on site or admittedly uses) more important they're subject to HACCP plan, which needs permits and approval and regulation of Deparment of health. Enforcement is another issue.
I totally agree with you about cleanliness I process myself and wouldn't trust anyone else unless I knew them. Georgia is very lax on this issue whereas other states are not.
Last edited:
I got it.perhaps I should have added beef fat also.
