Stupid question-freezing wild game before consumption.

[Bowhuntamistad]

How long do you freeze your game meat before making “undercooked” meals like jerky, parisa, rare steaks, etc to eliminate potential parasites. I’ve seen everything online from “not required” to 48 hrs to 30+ days.

Reason I ask is the liver from a bison I shot earlier this month looked a little suspect. Really wish I had taken pictures of it but it had spots that almost looked spiral like? Meat looked great and spot free, been freezing about 18-21 days now depending on when I finished and packaged that particular cut. Just took out a ham to make jerky tonight and got to thinking.

[Artemiz]

From what I've read from CDC freezing reduces toxoplasmosis & trichinella but require different time.

Several days below 0F for venison and for pork less than 6 inches thick, 20 days at 5f to kill any worms.

I freeze below 0 Fahrenheit for minimum of 72 hours before serving undercooked venison. I got toxoplasmosis from venison 3 yrs ago and didn't realize it until it was too late and lost part of my peripheral vision in my left eye. Not worth it.

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[DRT]

Two weeks is what I've read.
And that's what my wife expects. Before it's been in the freezer it's a dead animal. After that it's meat.[emoji1]

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[topshot]

I've never heard of freezing venison prior to cooking to kill bacteria. Is 145 degree internal meat temp not enough to do the trick?
What kind of temps are you calling undercooked?

[AntlerCollector]

I've never heard of freezing venison prior to cooking to kill bacteria. Is 145 degree internal meat temp not enough to do the trick?
What kind of temps are you calling undercooked?

You won’t reach that temp making jerky and rare steaks

[pafdrn]

Dang, we frequently take deer heart and slice it thin, season it, throw it on the grill and eat rare-medium rare. Never worried about infections.

[sneaky freak]

I wonder how long the indians froze the meat before consuming........

[Artemiz]

I've never heard of freezing venison prior to cooking to kill bacteria. Is 145 degree internal meat temp not enough to do the trick?
What kind of temps are you calling undercooked?

It's not bacteria you have to worry about.

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[Artemiz]

I wonder how long the indians froze the meat before consuming........

You didn't have millions of feral housecats spreading toxoplasmosis back then.

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[WItoTX]

You didn't have millions of feral housecats spreading toxoplasmosis back then.

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OP didn't say a cat was on the liver.

[Artemiz]

OP didn't say a cat was on the liver.

This comment doesn't make any sense.

But to answer OP's question, only thing I've seen that mottles a liver is ascarids (roundworms/nematodes) but that's for swine.

Spiral mottling sounds like it might be liver fluke or lungworms?

[IkemanTX]

From what I've read from CDC freezing reduces toxoplasmosis & trichinella but require different time.

Several days below 0F for venison and for pork less than 6 inches thick, 20 days at 5f to kill any worms.

I freeze below 0 Fahrenheit for minimum of 72 hours before serving undercooked venison. I got toxoplasmosis from venison 3 yrs ago and didn't realize it until it was too late and lost part of my peripheral vision in my left eye. Not worth it.

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I wouldn’t worry about trich in whitetail... bear or pig, absolutely.
Toxoplasmosis can be a concern, but it has an 11% seroprevalence in humans already. I’ve never frozen venison specifically for pathogen control, but what does a few weeks hurt if you are concerned about it.