Breast meat safe?

[silversage03]

Thank you all for you replies! I hadn't thought of the salt water soak, and we'll definitely do that when we cook the meat. I'll try to remember to post how it all turns out! Next year, the turkey(s) will be butchered early enough so as not to be a problem!

 

[jaku]

I'm actually shocked that so many people are telling you to eat this bird. It died from SOMETHING on New Year's Eve, and was left until the 2nd before butchering? No way... feed it to the cats. I would never eat an animal that I didn't kill- especially since you don't know what killed it. Maybe if a dog got into your coop and killed it, and you found it soon after, but that bird could have died from any number of diseases. In all likelihood, you'd be fine, but is it really worth the risk? Eating an animal that was just found dead, not even bled out, just sounds like a bad idea. Your cats will love it.

 

[greathorse]

I think the odds of this being unsafe are very remote, it is the thought of eating something that died for "some" reason just creates a gag reflex for me. Packing plants are absoltely villified for processing downer (sometimes dead) cows and it is now against the law. It is not because anyone, that we know of, became ill it is just a bad thought.

Just saying. I couldnt do it.

 

[jaku]

Quote:
Maybe I'm wrong, but I thought that with beef, butchering dead or dying animals WAS thought to have caused illnesses in people??

 

[greathorse]

No I don't know of a case but the concept of eating something that was not properly harvested is one that does not resonate well with most folks

 

[Kittymomma]

Quote:
They were concerned about mad cow. There were also concerns about humane treatment since many of the downer cows were shoved along with a forklift while still living, pretty gross stuff. It's a bit of a drag for the small farmer though, you can't get a butcher truck out even if you have a cow with a broken leg and know there is nothing else wrong with it. You either butcher yourself or lose the meat.

 

[greathorse]

I have been a butcher my entire life I understand all of the above. And if an animal breaks a leg and is bled out properly I have no issue with eating the meat. If I find a dead bullock in my pasture and no idea what happened and it has not been properly bled i am not eating it unless I am very hungry. It will likely not hurt me it just isnt what I would do.

 

[Ladyhawke1]

How desperate are you to have food to eat? Are your cupboards that empty? You are not wasting this by feeding the turkey to your animals.
What price can you put on the health of you and your family? Think about it, how much money are you saving? Let us not be so frugal that one misses the whole point of growing and raising one’s own food.

 

[CoopCrazy]

Quote:
There is no need to be nasty to ANYONE ANYTIME on here.. Very counter productive.....

 

[Ladyhawke1]

I am sorry that this sounded nasty. I did not mean it to. It was just said for someone to evaluate their situation. In no way was I being critical of the OP.

I have been without food so I know what eating brown lettuce means.