http://www.bismarcktribune.com/articles/2008/04/13/news/state/153251.txt 

Venison donor programs skeptical about fears of lead fragments 

Apr 13, 2008 - 04:05:08 CDT

By DAVID DISHNEAU
Associated Press Writer

HAGERSTOWN, Md. - Organizations that donate nearly a million pounds of venison to food banks annually say growing concerns about lead bullet fragments in the meat are premature.

Minnesota followed suit last week, directing food banks and soup kitchens to destroy any venison after tests revealed varying levels of lead fragments in 76 of 299 samples.

Iowa briefly banned venison distribution in late March but lifted the order April 1 after testing 10 samples and finding that eight had no detectable lead and two had less than 1 part per million, which the agency said presented no recognized risk for lead exposure.

Ingesting lead can cause significant health problems for young children and pregnant women.

Farmers and Hunters Feeding the Hungry, based in Williamsport, Md., oversees donations of more than 282,000 pounds of venison in 27 states annually. Josh Wilson, national operations director, said North Dakota may have acted too quickly in asking food banks to discard the meat.

“I don’t think we’ve seen enough to be alarmed or concerned at this point,” he said. “If anything, a little more study is needed.”

Safari Club International, which donated 317,000 pounds of venison to the needy last year through its Sportsmen Against Hunger program, was similarly skeptical.

“This is disheartening, and we certainly don’t think this program should come to an end on the unscientific assessment that has occurred here,” Doug Burdin, a lawyer for the Tucson, Ariz.-based group, told The Associated Press in North Dakota.

Hunters for the Hungry, based in Big Island, Va., distributed more than 363,000 pounds of venison to Virginia food banks last year, director Laura Newell-Furniss said. She, too, said more study is needed before venison donations are banned.

“People have been eating venison for centuries from deer that were killed with lead bullets and we haven’t been aware of any problems with that,” she said.

Dr. William Cornatzer, a Bismarck, N.D., physician and hunter, alerted health officials after he conducted his own tests on venison using a CT scanner and found lead in 60 percent of 100 samples. The North Dakota Health Department confirmed the results on at least five samples of venison destined for food pantries.

“There is lead in there, and the only acceptable level of lead is zero,” Cornatzer said Friday. “The scariest thing is that the lead particles are so small you can’t feel them when you chew them.

“This should not be the end to these programs in any way - poor people are getting good protein from this,” Cornatzer said. “This is not just a food pantry problem - it’s a problem for everyone and we, as hunters, need to change the way we harvest our deer.”

Jody Menikheim, who oversees meat-processor inspections for the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, said the agency would discuss with state Agriculture Department veterinarians the possibility of venison lead testing next fall when the meat donations are made.

The statewide Maryland Food Bank receives 500 pounds of donated venison annually and doesn’t want to lose it, spokeswoman Shanna Yetman said.

“We’re always really excited to get this type of donation because there’s a lot of protein in deer meat. It’s very nutritious. It’s a good product,” she said.

Chicago-based America’s Second Harvest alerted all of its more than 200 food banks around the country to the North Dakota directive, spokesman Ross Fraser said. The organization relayed the state’s announcement but didn’t advise them to take any action.

The group’s guidelines for wild game donations state that, if handled properly, wild game can be an important food source. The guidelines don’t mention lead contamination.

(Associated Press Writer James MacPherson in Bismarck, N.D., contributed to this story.)