Tapeworm (?) cysts in meat. WWYD?

[PsRpOiGrRiAtM]

I’ve found 3 of these cysts in my elk as I’m butchering it. I popped the first two, thinking they were some sort of insect eggs, but further investigation has me concerned. Internet searching and images suggest tapeworm cysts. Have you guys ever experienced anything like this? If so, what did you do, and any advice? I’ll most likely be calling fish and game tomorrow.

 

[Bambistew]

I would bet that 75% of the animals I've killed and eaten here in AK have had them, and many more I've helped cut up.They are harmless to humans, and freezing kills them. Pick them out as you butcher. Just picked a few out the other day from some jerky meat. Don't feed unfrozen or uncooked meat to your pets, they will get the worms...

 

[thusby]

Just don't show your dinner guests that picture and you are good to go.

 

[Pucky Freak]

I think something on the order of 100% of Alaskan Caribou have parasites. People eat the meat all the time with proper handling and preparation.

 

[nontyp]

Man...that would gross me out thinking about that as im eating it. Ive never seen them in elk that we have harvested.

 

[Bambistew]

Man...that would gross me out thinking about that as im eating it. Ive never seen them in elk that we have harvested.

I haven't seen them in sheep here but nearly every moose and caribou I've killed has had them, some more than others.

Wolves are the primary host, but they get them from eating meat. Its a weird cycle. Adult worms live in wolves, they shed eggs in fecese, the eggs are eaten by ungulates when eating plats. The larva makes its way in to the meat... The ungulate dies or is killed and eaten by the wolf... worm grows in wolf, cycle resets...

Freezing and cooking kills them and they are supposedly harmless to humans. My dogs have gotten them when eating scraps while butchering or we assume so. Frign dogs get dewormed every year anyway. I think they can pick up larva from the soil as well.

 

[Redman]

Found this on a liver of a WT doe I shot this year. Didn't eat the liver but ate the heart. It didn't concern me about anything else possibly being wrong with the meat. I think you would stop eating out and become a vegetarian if you saw what was in the domestic meat that you consume.

 

[thusby]

Found this on a liver of a WT doe I shot this year. Didn't eat the liver but ate the heart. It didn't concern me about anything else possibly being wrong with the meat. I think you would stop eating out and become a vegetarian if you saw what was in the domestic meat that you consume.

Found something similar on an antelope liver this year as well.

 

[Wildabeest]

Just don't show your dinner guests that picture and you are good to go.

Serve it to guests and see what happens before you decide whether to eat it yourself.

I say that jokingly, but I was on a chartered fishing trip in the Caribbean several years ago and all we were catching were barracuda. Apparently barracuda are susceptible to some kind of bacterial infection that can make a person really sick if you eat an infected one, but the crew was keeping them anyway. We inquired about it, and he said the locals would eat them. We asked if they had developed some kind of immunity to the bacteria. He said “No. What they do is cut off a small piece and feed it to a chicken. If the chicken lives, they eat the fish. If the chicken dies, they eat the chicken.” We weren’t sure if he was joking or not, but there was a group of locals waiting at the dock that took every barracuda we caught.

 

[WyoDoug]

On serious side, most pork and poultry has parasites which is why they say to fully cook that. Most wild game has parasites, most microscopic that you do not see and usually in the organs. They defecate and urinate over the same areas they eat and that transfers eggs from animal to animal. Tapeworm survives from winter to winter so freezing obviously does not kill 100% and when weather warms up areas where they are mostly eradicated end up reinfected through predators, livestock and other sources. It does kill most of it to take the infection rate below the FDA "safe limits" but the eggs can go dormant and survive freezing which is the purpose of cysts. Keep in mind that most freezers are not at zero degrees or below. For freezing to be effective, experts suggest -4 degrees for at least 10 days followed by fully cooking the meat.

Organ meat (heart/liver) especially in areas where game meat with cysts on the organs are found should be froze at less than zero degrees for at least 10 days and cooked to an internal temp of 145 which is well done. Most of the time this is enough.

In the end, that meat is probably safe to consume if you trim the cysts off along with surrounding meat. Not really appetizing though. I used to see ring worm all the time when I was butchering domestic rabbits on the farm and just trimmed the infected area off. Another reason I wear disposable gloves handling raw meat and wash hands regularly.

 

[WyoDoug]

Be aware too, that cysts do not always indicate parasitic infection. Liver cysts, which are fairly common in all mammals are fluid-filled sacs that form in the liver. They're usually benign growths, meaning they aren't cancerous. These cysts generally don't require treatment unless symptoms develop, and they rarely affect liver function. As far as cooking, they are mostly fatty material that completely renders in cooking and not dangerous to eat. I have cysts on my own liver that my doctor found during an MRI on my heart is keeping a good eye on. If the cysts are in the liver alone but not present on the intestines and other organs like the pancreas I would not be too concerned.