I’m a little belated in relaying this, so most of you in Minnesota already know this, but the State has decided to go ahead and allow venison distribution through the food banks. Deer hunters will still be able to donate part of their kill to help feed the state’s hungry.
There have been several articles, including this one from the Minneapolis/St. Paul Star Tribune, which quotes a senior official from the MN Department of Agriculture:
“It will be different from last year, certainly, [but] we can say that the venison program will continue,” said Heidi Kassenborg, director of the Dairy and Food Inspection Division of the state Department of Agriculture.
“There’s still a lot of specifics that need to be ironed out,” she added. Officials still are discussing potential changes to the program.
As I understand it, one of the major changes will be to provide whole cuts of meat, rather than ground, due to the increased incidence of lead fragments in venison burger and sausage. That sort of makes sense, since the trim and “mangled bits” usually end up in the grind bucket, while the whole cuts avoid the shot-up area. Good, clean trimming should alleviate that issue, though.
Anyway, just wanted to provide a follow-up on my previous post.
I’m glad to see they came to a sensible agreement on the issue, and that the program will continue. I’m sure this isn’t the last we will hear about it though.