If you enjoy making your own venison jerky or game jerky and have a favorite recipe that you love to make, there are some safety concerns that you should be aware of when handling game. People have been handling game for thousands of years and as the settlers and Indian tribes, as well as millions of people before found out, preservation of the meat is critical to a safe product.

Hundreds of years ago, suet or cooked fat, helped to preserve some of the meats that the American Indians dried. They realized that while yes, drying or slow cooking the meat did help, it was also subject to mold and other spoilage issues.

Today, we need to remember that while it is relatively easy to make a home made jerky, given the right equipment and recipe, the preservation of the meat is also a critical issue. If you are a hunter and enjoy hunting deer, elk and other game, field dressing can be very dangerous to the meat. Meat will spoil quickly if it is left between 40 and 140 degrees. This occurs when it is not refrigerated when being transported and this in turn can be hazardous to your health and the health of others that may consume the meat.

Making jerky from game meat can also be an issue if you just use a dehydrator to make your jerky. This method is not sufficient to kill E.coili, Salmonella or other forms of contaminated meats. Time marinading the meat can also put your jerky at risk if you are not under refrigeration during the marinading time.

For the safest method of making your own game jerky, research the FDA guidelines for food safety or better yet, let us do the cooking for you. Our kitchens and meat are inspected and we provide an excellent product made to the highest specifications and safest methods available. Don’t eat gamey jerky. Mountain America has the best game jerky around, packaged safely and delivered ready to eat.