Donate wild hog meat to food pantries
Donate wild hog meat to food pantries
The Issue
Draft for the USDA:
https://hoghuntusa.com/blog-details/3884f413-3dd4-46cc-9045-87e2e5ce85e7
Summary:
In Texas, 10% of the population lives below the poverty line and there is a source of protein readily available. This source of protein is wild hogs with a population that needs to be reduced by 66% each year just to keep them from spreading. Organizations like Hunters for the Hungry want to help, but bureaucracy is standing in the way. This petition urges the USDA to clarify an ambiguous law which will allow wild hogs to be donated by hunters and processed by professional processors the same way that deer are today.
How much meat?
A conservative estimate is that 1 million hogs are taken each year. We can take the average weight of an animal as 100lb (which is less a typical mature hog), and estimate that 25% of that would be usable meat (a good butcher could easily do 35%). This means that there is 25 million pounds of meat on the table here - if we even claimed 1/10 of that it would be a huge impact!
What's the difference:
Wild game is only inspected after the animal is harvested and the meat is inspected for safety. Farm animals need to be inspected before and after the animal is killed. With wild hogs being treated as farm animals by the ambiguity of the law, it doesn't allow for the meat to be donated because a USDA inspector was not present at the time the animal was killed - even though the inspection just a cursory visual inspection.
How we'll do it:
This could be done with a change in legislation, but that may be a long road. A faster alternative is to ask the Secretary of Agriculture to make the clarification that individual states are allowed to decide that wild hogs are considered wild game. The USDA is aware that this is an interest and we will turn this petition to a formal petition within the USDA along with formal letters of support. With enough signatures this will send a powerful message!
The full scoop:
At a national level, the Federal Meat Inspection Act of 1906 requires meat to be inspected before it enters commerce. This is intended for farm animals, not wild game. However, rather than specifying "domesticated animals," they specifically list out cows, sheep, swine, etc.
Since wild hogs are swine, they fall under this law as a technicality. This law requires the animal to be inspected before it is killed. The inspection is not very thorough but essentially just confirms by observing the animal that it doesn't appear sick.
Since hunters kill wild hogs without a USDA inspector present, this prevents the USDA from allowing that meat to be donated to food pantries even after it is inspected post-mortem.
Technically, the USDA only has authority if the meat crosses state lines, so they actually don't have authority to prevent this. In fact, Texas state law explicitly exempts exotic species (which feral hogs are since they are not native) from such inspection. However, the USDA does fund state agencies that DO have authority, and the USDA requires those state agencies to be in compliance with their interpretation of the act.
This petition urges Congress to update this act in a manner that allows states to decide what they do with their feral animal populations. In Texas, 10% of the population is below the poverty line, and organizations like Feeding Texas and Hunters for the Hungry want to help! All we need is for the federal government to get out of the way. Please help by signing our petition.
Find the full story here about here
More info to come on https://hoghuntusa.com as we report on the issue.
Links for more legal details
https://www.fsis.usda.gov/policy/food-safety-acts/federal-meat-inspection-act
1,117
The Issue
Draft for the USDA:
https://hoghuntusa.com/blog-details/3884f413-3dd4-46cc-9045-87e2e5ce85e7
Summary:
In Texas, 10% of the population lives below the poverty line and there is a source of protein readily available. This source of protein is wild hogs with a population that needs to be reduced by 66% each year just to keep them from spreading. Organizations like Hunters for the Hungry want to help, but bureaucracy is standing in the way. This petition urges the USDA to clarify an ambiguous law which will allow wild hogs to be donated by hunters and processed by professional processors the same way that deer are today.
How much meat?
A conservative estimate is that 1 million hogs are taken each year. We can take the average weight of an animal as 100lb (which is less a typical mature hog), and estimate that 25% of that would be usable meat (a good butcher could easily do 35%). This means that there is 25 million pounds of meat on the table here - if we even claimed 1/10 of that it would be a huge impact!
What's the difference:
Wild game is only inspected after the animal is harvested and the meat is inspected for safety. Farm animals need to be inspected before and after the animal is killed. With wild hogs being treated as farm animals by the ambiguity of the law, it doesn't allow for the meat to be donated because a USDA inspector was not present at the time the animal was killed - even though the inspection just a cursory visual inspection.
How we'll do it:
This could be done with a change in legislation, but that may be a long road. A faster alternative is to ask the Secretary of Agriculture to make the clarification that individual states are allowed to decide that wild hogs are considered wild game. The USDA is aware that this is an interest and we will turn this petition to a formal petition within the USDA along with formal letters of support. With enough signatures this will send a powerful message!
The full scoop:
At a national level, the Federal Meat Inspection Act of 1906 requires meat to be inspected before it enters commerce. This is intended for farm animals, not wild game. However, rather than specifying "domesticated animals," they specifically list out cows, sheep, swine, etc.
Since wild hogs are swine, they fall under this law as a technicality. This law requires the animal to be inspected before it is killed. The inspection is not very thorough but essentially just confirms by observing the animal that it doesn't appear sick.
Since hunters kill wild hogs without a USDA inspector present, this prevents the USDA from allowing that meat to be donated to food pantries even after it is inspected post-mortem.
Technically, the USDA only has authority if the meat crosses state lines, so they actually don't have authority to prevent this. In fact, Texas state law explicitly exempts exotic species (which feral hogs are since they are not native) from such inspection. However, the USDA does fund state agencies that DO have authority, and the USDA requires those state agencies to be in compliance with their interpretation of the act.
This petition urges Congress to update this act in a manner that allows states to decide what they do with their feral animal populations. In Texas, 10% of the population is below the poverty line, and organizations like Feeding Texas and Hunters for the Hungry want to help! All we need is for the federal government to get out of the way. Please help by signing our petition.
Find the full story here about here
More info to come on https://hoghuntusa.com as we report on the issue.
Links for more legal details
https://www.fsis.usda.gov/policy/food-safety-acts/federal-meat-inspection-act
1,117
The Decision Makers
Supporter Voices
Petition created on March 4, 2024