A black bear steak?
Is bear meat safe to eat? It may not be a question you ask yourself every day in the city, but if you venture north in countries like Canada where wild bears are a mythical creature to be revered and feared, it just may happen that you will be offered bear meat. My friend hunted a bear on my land in Northern Ontario and a number of my friends spoke about eating the wild meat. It was turned into a well-cooked roast and this was probably a good thing.
According to local media sources in Canada, wild game, including bear and deer, may be harboring a parasite in its muscle called trichinellosis. If the meat is not cooked well, this parasite can spread to your muscles. There are some reported cases documented by the CDC, The Centers for Disease Control.
The Centers for Disease Control presented microscopic evidence of ‘encapsulated larvae in a black bear meat muscle.’ (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
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They commented on cases of people in the US who had eaten wild black bear from Canada. Among eight people who shared a meal that included the meat of a black bear harvested in Canada and frozen for 45 days, 6 trichinellosis cases were identified. The meat was grilled with vegetables and served rare; two cases occurred in persons who ate only the vegetables. Freeze-resistant Trichinella nativa larvae were identified in remaining meat frozen for less than 15 weeks.
It is possible to eat wild game, but it is important to know how to cook it. Cooking meat to an internal temperature of greater than 165°F (74°C) is necessary to kill Trichinella spp. parasites. Trichinella-infected meat can cross-contaminate other foods, and raw meat should be kept and prepared separately from other foods to prevent cross-contamination.
Emily Jenkins, a professor of veterinary microbiology who has done extensive research on zoonotic parasites including Trichinella, said the disease “pops up every couple of years associated with bear meat” and as recently as 2021, she told the CBC, a state-funded media source from Canada.
She says it often comes up with tourists because Indigenous people who harvest wild animals are aware the meat must be well-cooked: “It’s often tourists, hunters coming from away who will take a souvenir home with them … so it’s fairly common that people who don’t have that protective knowledge are the ones who unfortunately become infected and that they’ve also shared the meat widely because it’s a delicacy, a gourmet thing,” Jenkins said.
“We’ve had massive outbreaks in France, for example, associated with bear meat from Canada, just because people didn’t necessarily have that protective knowledge.”
So if you are offered wild meat from bear, deer, moose, or any other animal – make sure it is well done. Eating meat from the wild is essential for many people who live in Northern Ontario, where I have a home. A young buck harvested after a roadkill a few days ago gave someone in my family about 40 pounds of meat. That helps take the pressure off of rising bills and is a natural way to live with the wild.
