Safe Cooking for Feral Hog Meat?

[Cassidy]

Like I said, I'm planning to obtain feral hog meat (may use my 308) for Christmas and smoke/cook it on my Traeger; how should I cook it to be sure it's safe for my family (kids, grandkids, etc)?

 

[Uthink Uknow]

I tried it once-once-once. You don’t want to know how we prepared it. It may just be it had a poor diet.

 

[joshb]

I’ve talked to several Texas ranch owners and a professional Hunting Ranch owner about this, as I was thinking about a hunt. They all said they wouldn’t eat wild hog meat.”Too many diseases.”
I’ll stick with farm raised! The costs of the hunt would buy a lot of pork.

 

[mikecockcroft]

No different then store bought. We eat them often and make hamburger with venison and feral pigs. Use a meat thermometer and cook to internal temp of 160.
Tried out my new chamber vacuum sealer last week.

 

[C.E.Smith043]

 

[C.E.Smith043]

Dozens of Trichinella illnesses linked to wild boar meat

A number of patients with symptoms of Trichinellosis have been detected near the Italian city of Turin. A statement from early January by health

www.foodsafetynews.com

 

[C.E.Smith043]

I would just pass on the wild boar. I'm sure you would feel horrible if your family catches something over basic pork that can be bought at the store safely.

 

[jsn]

Trichinosis​

Trichinosis - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[JackT]

When I was younger (40+ years ago) we enjoyed wild hog on multip!e occasions, the trick was to focus on quality vs quantity by selecting the younger ones. There were not near as many of them out there and at least on the central Texas coast they were still a novelty vs a nuisance.

 

[Knotwild]

There are processors around here that handle them. They have to be separated from the venison and I think they have to have a second license. I've eaten some wild pork and it's pretty tasty, but lean. I've eaten it as barbecue and as sausage. It can be tough.
Select a young gilt if you can - up to 120 or so pounds. That's the good stuff. A boar stinks when he's alive and when you cook him. Be sure and remove the glands when you skin him. Guys in FL taught me 30 years ago to soak it in a cooler filled with ice water and baking soda. In fact they fed me some boar barbecue that had been soaked and I couldn't tell it was a male.

Like mikecockcroft said, make sure the internal temp reaches 160. The way inflation is going, we all might have to start eating them.

 

[butchlambert]

Your processor is key. https://kubys.com/wild-game-processing/ Kubys also has a renowned restaurant in Dallas. https://kubys.com/about-us/ I've used them for many years and I'll guarantee they know their business. I've had a lot of wild hogs and never any sickness.
From our hunting property.

 

[Gargoyle]

I should think when even applying the "Law of averages" I would have been sick once in the last 22yrs from wild hog meat. Loins in the cast iron and crockpot for camp meat should have done me in.

Hogs under 150 tender and tasty.
Hogs over that tuff and tasty.

Just like with goose meat. Cook it right and it's awesome. Cook it like chicken and it's garbage.

 

[Downeast]

I have a friend who is a professional trapper for USDA and he shoots and traps a lot of feral pigs. He now wears gloves and a full face shield when he collects blood and tissue samples. He told me that he used to eat them but after discovering the various diseases that they carry he quit. He treats them like any other HAZMAT item.

 

[Gargoyle]

I have a friend who is a professional trapper for USDA and he shoots and traps a lot of feral pigs. He now wears gloves and a full face shield when he collects blood and tissue samples. He told me that he used to eat them but after discovering the various diseases that they carry he quit. He treats them like any other HAZMAT item.

Like the government does with COVID 19?

 

[Downeast]

Like the government does with COVID 19?

Trichinosis and Brucellosis are not anything like the hysteria, political hype, and false truths that have been associated with covid. Since some of the basic research on Lyme disease was carried out by the CDC, a government agency, I guess that tick borne diseases are silly nonsense as well.

 

[mikecockcroft]

Hogs on Chinese owned midwest U. S farms have a better chance of having diseases then the wild ones around my house.

 

[762willdo]

Roll the dice……..just don’t crap out….. literally.

 

[TrapperBR549]

If you cook to 160* you have nothing to worry about.

 

[markT]

I would handle the hogs with gloves. Cook the meat to a safe temp...

 

[HandgunHTR]

If you cook to 160* you have nothing to worry about.

Correct. And 160 is a threshold for immediate killing. You can cook to lower temps if you hold it at that temp longer.