Game meat safety for recreational deer hunters Game meat safety for recreational deer hunters (PDF 470.96 KB)Īs a harvester, in addition to ensuring that you have the appropriate permissions to harvest wild deer, you should also be mindful of food safety standards that may apply if you want to supply deer carcasses to a commercial processor. This guide will help you to manage the risks under your control: Meat safety for recreational deer hunters The quality and safety of wild game is also directly related to the health of the animal and how safely, quickly and competently it was field dressed, stored, cooled and transported, prior to processing. If you decide to use these recreational harvest service providers, you should ensure that the operator has sufficient practices in place to process your product safely and hygienically.
![deer hunting game deer hunting game](https://cdn.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/steam/apps/328670/header.jpg)
It is important for hunters to note that these service providers are not licensed by PrimeSafe (the Victorian meat safety regulator) and can only process harvested deer for the hunter’s personal consumption. Recent changes to laws mean that recreational hunters with a Game Licence endorsed for deer can now have their wild deer butchered and processed for their personal consumption by certain recreational harvest service providers. See Game meat safety for further information on minimising the food safety risks associated with harvesting, field dressing, transporting, storing and handling game meat before it gets to a meat processing facility or their own home.Ĭlick image above to view a larger version Game meat safety for recreational deer hunters Recreational hunters should ensure that any unlicensed meat processing facility used to process deer carcasses has sufficient practices in place to manage food safety and hygiene.ĭeer carcasses taken by recreational harvesters cannot be processed in any meat processing facility that processes game or other meat into products available for sale.
![deer hunting game deer hunting game](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/6178NHN34TL.jpg)
These facilities are not licensed by PrimeSafe and are not regulated for safety or hygiene.
![deer hunting game deer hunting game](https://img.tapimg.com/market/images/e2a83a272ac6b27df43d877b6767d2ba.png)
Recent changes allow recreational hunters to have deer carcasses processed by an unlicensed meat processing facility for the hunter’s personal consumption. A person holding a relevant game licence from the GMA may take wild deer from private land (with the permission of the landowner) or from public land, for personal consumption.