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Family gatherings are important occasions when separated family members finally have a chance to meet again. However, disaster struck one family gathering in South Dakota last year when the undercooked bear meat led to an outbreak of brain worms.
Learn more about this news story after the jump!
Disaster Strikes
This story may seem hard to believe, but the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently released a report about an incident that happened two years ago. People in three states including Minnesota and Arizona checked into the hospital with a strange condition. They had symptoms like fever, severe muscle aches, swelling around the eyes, and other abnormalities discovered in blood tests. Further investigation revealed the people who became sick were all family members who attended a reunion in South Dakota in May 2022. There, the family consumed meat from a bear hunted by one of the family members in Saskatchewan, Canada.
The hunter stored the bear meat in a freezer for 45 days beforehand to ensure it would be safe to eat. However, the bear meat kebobs they had for dinner that night were undercooked. After cooking the bear meat for an additional time, it was finally served for the reunion dinner, a choice that lead to disaster.
Mystery Uncovered
After looking at the patients’ shared history, doctors suspected the family members had contracted trichinellosis. This food-borne disease comes from consuming undercooked meat, often from eating wild game that leads to an infection of microscopic and parasitic roundworms. These worms make their way to the heart and brain and may lead to the formation of cysts and cause seizures.
All six family members who became sick from eating undercooked bear meat have since recovered.
Bear meat has a natural dark color that is unlike beef or pork. Because of this, the family reported they had trouble telling when the beef kebobs were fully cooked. What’s more, two of the family members became sick even though they did not eat the bear meat. As it were, these family members only ate vegetables grilled with the bear meat, but became sick all the same.
Similar Cases
Cases of parasites in humans caused by undercooked meat are very rare in the U.S.A., but they continue to happen. In 2016, a gathering in Alameda County, California that served a raw pork dish led to 12 trichinosis infections that hospitalized 9 people. Back in 2017, ten Alaskans became infected with trichinellosis after consuming raw or undercooked walrus meat. Meanwhile, another recent report revealed a US man who checked into a hospital for his migraines discovered his lifelong preference for “soft” undercooked bacon was ultimately the cause of a parasitic worm infection in his brain.
Instances of roundworms in humans is not common in the U.S.A. Most Americans that contract roundworms do so when traveling to a third-world country instead of within the country.
How to Protect Yourself
Black bears are common carriers of ringworms, affecting as many as 24% of all black bears in Canada and Alaska. Even though freezing meat will often kill parasites, it is less effective with Trichinella nativa, a type of ringworm that is resistant to freezing and is the parasite involved in this story. As shown in this story, cross-contamination with other ingredients is possible, affecting diners who do not directly consume the infected meat. This isn’t to say you are not able to protect yourself against undercooked bear meat. If you are going to be eating wild game meat, it’s important to take the proper precautions with food safety. The CDC recommends cooking wild game meat to an internal temperature of at least 165°F (74°C) to minimize the risk of food-borne infections. As seen in this case, appearances are not a reliable indicator of when meat ingredients are fully cooked. As the CDC points out, digital meat thermometer is a reliable way to verify internal food temperatures.
Stay Safe with ThermoPro Thermometers
Ensure you always cook safe by using a ThermoPro meat thermometer to protect against foodborne infectious diseases. For your convenience, our wide lineup of products allows you to choose the type of food safety thermometer that best serves your purpose.
An instant-read thermometer like the ThermoPro Lightning lets you take on-the-spot measurements of your food as you cook. Use the Lightning when finishing a round of pork chops to determine they are thoroughly cooked, both inside and out, by measuring their internal temperatures. In just one second, the Lightning will precisely tell you if your pork chops are ready. This will vary between 145° F (for fresh pork cuts) and 160° F (for ground chops).
Conversely, use a probe thermometer to continuously monitor cooking temperatures over an extended period of time. Get real-time updates 100% wire-free with the TempSpike Plus, our advanced model that works up to a range of 600′. Great for larger cuts of beef for long sessions in the smoker, the TempSpike Plus is a surefire way to eliminate the threat of brain parasites from your food.
