- Rebecca Humphries, MDNR director
Custom venison processing provisions for MDA-licensed and inspected facilities include, but aren’t limited to:
- Processors must inspect all carcasses prior to
accepting. They must be identified with appropriate tags
and free of signs of illness and visible decomposition or
contamination.
- Venison products must be clearly marked, identified
with name of owner, stamped "Not for Sale," and
segregated from commercial meat and foods.
- Carcasses should be stored at or below 41 degrees F
and conducted using "first in, first out" rotation.
- Rubber or disposable gloves in good condition must be
worn.
- Processing of hunter-owned deer must take place after
all commercial food handling has ceased to eliminate the
potential for cross contamination of other food.
- All processing and handling equipment, food contact
surfaces, floors, and garments must be washed and
sanitized immediately after processing. Processing of
commercial foods cannot take place until these activities
are done.
For more information on safe processing practices, visit the Michigan Department of Agriculture.
ENROLLED HOUSE BILL No. 5196
Sec. 1101. This act shall be known and may be sited
as the "food law of 2000."
Sec. 6143 (1) A charitable, religious, fraternal, or other
nonprofit organization that prepares or serves wild game in
connection with its meetings or as part of a fund-raising
event or that prepares or serves wild game to indigent
persons free of charge is not required to obtain the wild
game from a department approved source.
(2) If a charitable, religious, fraternal, or other
nonprofit organizations prepares or serves wild game that
is not from a department approved source in connection with
its meetings or as part of a fund-raising event or prepares
or serves wild game that is not from a department-approved
source to indigent persons free of charge, the organization
shall post at the entrance to the dining area a sign
bearing the following message: Consumer beware. The wild
game served at this facility has not been subject to state
or federal inspection. The words of the message shall be
written or printed in letters not less than ¾ of an inch
high and ¾ of an inch wide, and shall be readable.
(p) "Wild game" means animals from their natural state and
not cultivated, domesticated, or tamed.