Breast meat safe?

[silversage03]

I had a Broad Breasted Bronze tom turkey that a friend gave me on my birthday in April. We always planned to butcher him but just hadn't gotten around to it. He was huge! I went out the morning of new year's eve to feed and water the flock, and there he was, dead in the doorway of the coop. Now, we've had super-cold temps for a couple of weeks (below 0 to about 10 degrees above) so the flock had been confined to the coop until a couple days before this happened. Since we were about to leave for work, I pulled him out, put him up, and went to work. I'm sure he was frozen solid within minutes. Anyway, our temps stayed below 15 degrees until late yesterday, when the Chinooks blew in and the temps began to rise. They got to about 35 early last night and hovered there until this morning, when they started to rise to the low 40's it is now. I had planned on cutting the tom open in an attempt to figure out what happened to him. His breasts were HUGE, and still partially frozen. Legs and thighs were partially frozen too. It appears he had a heart attack, as his heart was partially detached! My question is this: do you think it would be safe to eat this meat? His gizzard was full of grain and gravel, his liver was huge, no sign of any worm infestation. We brought the breast meat in and cleaned it up--looks fine. The barn cats are having a late feast on the rest of the carcus. Thoughts? If nothing else, I'll give the rest of the meat to the cats. Thanks for your help and input.

 

[greathorse]

I would guess that it is "probably" safe. Matter of fact I think the odds are huge that it is safe. I have been a meat cutter, butcher my whole life and not much grosses me out. The thought of eating an animal that died from unkown causes grosses me out, and I wouldnt eat it unless I was very hungry. Again I would guess it to be fine, but every bite would freak me just a little bit. Food should be eaten with a lot of confidence. If you can eat it withought a second thought go right ahead I am sure I could not get past it.

That is just me I would not judge a person that would dig right in. Some eat fresh road kill I would not do it if I knew.

 

[Cindiloohoo]

With those temps, I'd say it's still good. The only concern would be not having had the animal bleed out properly. If it looks okay, I'd eat it. He was obviously so big he just had a heart attack.

 

[zaylinda]

I would definitely go for that.

 

[becky3086]

I guess I wouldn't eat it, but that is just because I was always taught that you didn't eat an animal when you didn't know how it died, no matter what.

 

[Farmer Benjii]

I would go on the safe side and feed to cats, although if your game enough to then go ahead..

 

[organicfoltzfamilyfarm]

As long as it was natural causes, and you cook it really well.

 

[Overeasyplz]

Anyone know the story of Birdseye frozen foods? They say he discovered "frozen fish" in alaska.. and developed commercially frozen foods from seeing the fish caught on lines frozen solid, cooked and ate one and declared it a marvel, it tasted fresh even though the eskimos stored them that way..Anyway, pioneers ate frozen animals out here on the prarie, and even i took advantage of the "natural freezer" when I put my brined turkey in it's lidded bucket outside to keep it cold the required 2 days. I think whatever you can salvage will be fine. Whn you thaw it to eat it you might put it in salted water to help draw out the blood, as you do in wild waterfowl or game. It should be fine.

 

[Tala]

Sounds like it would be OK to me. Heck it was only 20 last night and I used the porch for a refrigerator for my crock pot of blackeyed peas (coz it's too big to fit in the fridge)

If I were sure that it died of natural causes I'd probably eat it. IF I felt a naggy feeling about it, it would be for the dog (we raw feed) -- so long as a member of the family is being nourished I wouldn't consider feeding it to the dog "wasting" it.

 

[CoopCrazy]

I would ... I like the salt water idea to get the blood out...