Popular venison donation programs are finding themselves under fire

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

It’s hard to argue with a good meal. Since 1991 the nonprofit group Hunters Sharing the Harvest has coordinated the distribution of 1.2 million pounds of hunterdonated venison to more than 5,000 food assistance organizations in Pennsylvania. Each year, according to the state Game Commission, the group provides 200,000 hunter-supplied meals.

Bryan Burhans, Game Commission executive director, said in a recent statement that through HSH people with food availability problems are benefitting from the generosity of Pennsylvania’s hunters.

“There’s no greater gift than feeding someone who is hungry, and our state’s hunters have stepped up to do that, time and again, by working through the program to generously donate meat from the deer they harvest to people in need,” Burhanssaid.

Similar venison donation programs exist in most deerhunting states. Nevertheless, some organizations including state wildlife management agencies have brought up legitimate concerns about the long-term safety of consuming hunter-killed meat and providing it to low-incomefamilies.

With the Dec. 9 closing of the 2017 firearm deer season, and various archery, flintlock and slug gun seasons continuing almost to the end of January, successful hunters have options regarding what to do with their venison. During the 2016-17 seasons, Pennsylvania hunters donated 2,947 deer to Hunters Sharing the Harvest, which butchered out to 120,515 pounds of ground venison that provided 589,400 high-protein servings for individualsand families in need of food.

“That was a world record for this program,” said John Plowman, HSH executive director. “Deer processors in ourprogram take whole fielddressed deer, slice the bones out and grind it into ground meat. Burger goes further than other cuts and forms of meat — you can make it into a lot of other foods. This way, THIS WEEK: Hunter-donated venison should be distributed through food banks while research continues into possible health risks from long-term consumption. • Yes • No • LAST WEEK: Pennsylvania is too slow in permitting the use of new hunting tools, devices and sporting arms. one deer averages about 200 meals.”

Despite the program’s humanitarian spirit and quantified social benefits, sciencebased studies into the consumption of hunter-killed meat have confirmed there are health risks. Hunting opponents sometimes use parts of those reports to challenge hunters and deer control programs that donate to groups like Hunters Sharing the Harvest.

They’re right, in a cherrypicking sort of way. But often thoseclaims are overblown.

For instance, in 2008 the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a report on lead bullet fragmentationin hunter-killed deer.

“The modeled exposure estimates, based on currently available field data, indicate that even at the lowest exposure scenario, there is predicted risk of elevated lead levels in blood among children consuming venison shot with lead ammunition,” stated the report.

But it continued, “because elevated blood lead has not been confirmed among consumers of venison, and because the measured lead content in venison varies greatly,there is an indeterminatepublic health hazard.”

Subsequent studies in the past nine years found lead fragments can spread as far as 18 inches from the point of a lead bullet’s impact, and lead traces were found in most of the frozen ground venison sampled from public food distribution centers. But the reports concluded the risk to most consumers continued to be undetermined — the level of danger being influenced by factors ranging from exposure to additional lead from other sources to howthe venison is cooked.

Exposure to homes built before 1978 that contain leadbased paints and other products were found to be far more dangerous than eating venison.

A 2009 peer-reviewed study out of Idaho and Washington, critical of the safety of hunterkilled deer, concurred with previous studies that consumption increased blood lead concentrations. However the level of exposure, “cannot be calculated from our experiment because the exact amounts of lead in the meat packages were unknown.” Thereport continued, “factors that may influence dietary lead exposure from spent lead bullets include the frequency and amount of venison consumption, degree of bullet fragmentation, anatomical path of the bullet, the care withwhich meat surrounding the bullet wound is removed, and any acidic treatments of the meat that would dissolve lead.”

Those “treatments” include common marinades containing organic acids, which dissolve lead before thevenison hits the plate.

An Oregon State University study found that bullets used in black powder muzzleloading rifle cartridges experience less fragmentation on impact than high-velocity rifle bullets. A modern .30-06 lead-core high-velocity bullet fired through water and gel blocks lost 42.5 percent of its original mass through fragmentation. On average, a traditional black powder propelled .54 caliber round ball, a modern .54 caliber conical muzzleloader bullet and two types of .45-70 caliber black powder rifle cartridges retained 87.8 percent to 99.7 percent of their original mass. Researchers said the muzzleloaders’ low velocity and low potential for projectile expansion suggested less chance of human ingestion of toxic particles.

Deer donated to food programs by successful archers contain no lead fragments. Yet a frequent criticism of food-pantry venison is that field dressing conditions may be unsanitary, particularly during warm early autumn bow seasons. Another complaint claims that hunterkilled venison is not approvedby food inspectors.

“Not true,” Plowmansaid. “We have been strident in assuring the public that our meat is checked at the butcher’s and meets governmentstandards.”

Since 2011 all deer processors participating in the HSH program are required to be licensed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture or the state Department of Agriculture. Every donated deer is skinned, inspected, washed, quartered, de-boned, cut into pieces, ground into burger, packaged in 1-, 2- or 5-pound bagsand frozen.

“At every step it is handled and inspected by a skilled butcher licensed to approve hunter-shot venison,” Plowman said. “Food you get at the supermarket isn’t checked that thoroughly — inspectors get one look at one out of every so many cuts asthey pass them.”

Plowman said that in 26 years, Hunters Sharing the Harvest hasn’t received a complaint about the quality of its meat. The program includes 19 deer processors in southwestern Pennsylvania, and in light of last year’s record donations more are needed to handle this year’s expected demand. The Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank and other regional food distributors support HSH, as do the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, the administration of Gov. Tom Wolf, the Game Commission, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and others. Scores of corporate, business, club and individual sponsors provide financial support.

“It’s protein going to families struggling at the poverty level, elderly people, groups getting food assistance in this state under myriad programs,” Plowman said. “Our distributors give them a couple packages, not enough to eat every day for a year. And just as a precaution we suggest that children and pregnant women should eat it less often. But it’s safe, it’s healthy, it’s a big help for struggling families and we’re very grateful to the hunters who use their skill to provide it.”