Would you eat a CWD-positive animal?

[NearerTheBone]

Just curious what others have done. I recently started submitting my animals for CWD testing. Who knows, maybe I've consumed a CWD-positive animal before but never knew. Ignorance is bliss, I guess?

My MT whitetail test result is pending as "Suspect":

"Suspect/Positive: Your animal receives a “suspect” status if it tested positive twice for CWD on the Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) test. The lab will confirm this result with another test (Immuno-histochemistry, or IHC). We are treating all “suspects” as positives, since our previous experience indicates these two tests (ELISA & IHC) nearly always agree."

I'm leaning towards not consuming the animal, let alone feeding it to my wife and kids.

 

[Schism]

I would never knowingly eat meat from an animal that tested positive for CWD. The chances are slim but the consequences are fatal. Not a risk I'm willing to take.

 

[seeth07]

Yes, absolutely would eat it. Wasted meat otherwise. CWD has never spread to humans and can't. It also has zero impact on the muscle tissue you are consuming.

 

[brymoore]

No

 

[Forkyfinder]

Makes great dogfood. Jmho but i wouldnt do it. All the cool kids these days eat azz and cwd deer - guess im not cool anymore.

 

[wytex]

Have a positive cow in the freezer. Ate part of her before we got the test results back.
Only got her tested because we were giving part of the meat away and they asked about testing.
Disappointed in results, we won't give any of her meat away but will eat it I'm betting since we already ate some.
If the spouse can find another cow we may toss that meat.
She was healthy looking , good fat stores but alone and had nursed a calf but it was not with her.

Pretty positive we have eaten cwd deer and elk in the past, odds just make me think we had to have.

 

[Jnasa]

Yes, absolutely would eat it. Wasted meat otherwise. CWD has never spread to humans and can't. It also has zero impact on the muscle tissue you are consuming.

How can you say it can’t spread to humans. BSE and Scrapie’s in the UK spread to humans. While the transmission rate was low it did happen.

 

[WildWill]

Yes, absolutely would eat it. Wasted meat otherwise. CWD has never spread to humans and can't. It also has zero impact on the muscle tissue you are consuming.

This sums up my feelings pretty well. Every day we take calculated risk whether you're driving in your car, walking down the street, swimming, or a thousand other things. All of which are far more dangerous then contracting cwd from consuming a positive animal. But the moment cwd comes up everyone turns into the church lady from the Simpsons crying "won't somebody think of the children".

 

[Jnasa]

My opinion is you should never eat meat from an animal that tested positive for CWD. It is an unnecessary risk that would threaten not only you and family but also hunting.

If you want to assume the risk yourself I can’t stop you. But no one should be blindly suggesting it is safe and can’t transmit to humans. The chance may be low but can’t say it’s zero.

 

[WildWill]

How can you say it can’t spread to humans. BSE and Scrapie’s in the UK spread to humans. While the transmission rate was low it did happen.

True nobody can say it'll never happen. How about hasn't been proven capable of spreading to humans especially through normal consumption. I would think handling the deer during processing (which happens before testing) would be more dangerous then consuming cooked flesh.

 

[Islander]

I would think handling the deer during processing (which happens before testing) would be more dangerous then consuming cooked flesh.

It's the opposite. Casual contact doesn't spread prion diseases (mad cow for example, which is also a prion disease).

Consumption of brain or spinal cord matter is the mechanism of transmission. And cooking has no effect. Prions can survive temperatures of over 600°C/1100°F.

Thankfully so far even eating tainted venison hasn't caused a single known case.

 

[Southern Elk]

If you have used a processor in an area where CWD is present, you have more than likely consumed prions.

 

[Hunting Wife]

Both of our bucks tested positive last year. We chose not to eat them. Is the risk low? Yes. Is the risk zero? No one can say that because we just don’t know.

The simple facts:
Prions are present in skeletal muscle.
Other prion diseases have been transmitted to humans by eating infected tissues.

All you can do is weigh what is known, evaluate the risk vs your risk tolerance, and decide for yourself.

 

[WildWill]

Casual contact doesn't spread prion diseases (mad cow for example, which is also a prion disease).

But it spreads prions right? Also with the logic being used just because it hasn't been proven to spread by casual contact dosen't mean it can't. Why take the risk of being the first might as well never cut up another deer just to be safe.

 

[BRI]

Of all the things I could possibly die of for however long I have left in this world, CWD isn't even in the top 100.

 

[mtmuley]

I wonder how many CWD positive animals were consumed before the internet. Or did they come to light at the same time? mtmuley