Minnesota food shelves will be able to accept venison donated by deer hunters again this fall, thanks to major changes designed to keep lead bullet fragments out of the meat.

Officials feared that the program, which encourages hunters to thin a burgeoning state deer herd, might have to be ended after lead fragments were found earlier this year in ground venison donated to food shelves.

Among the changes:

• All donated venison must be processed into whole cuts — no ground venison will be accepted.

• Processors and food shelves participating in the program must attend a training seminar on preventing contamination.

• Meat with extensive shot damage will not be accepted.

• All venison donated through the program must be labeled, and the labeling must include the identification number or name of the processing plant where the meat was processed.

• A lead advisory statement will be distributed along with the donated venison. The final wording hasn’t been decided, but the state Health Department likely will recommend that food-shelf users not feed the venison to children under 6 or to pregnant women.

“Those people are most susceptible to even low levels of lead,” said Health Department spokesman Doug Schultz.

Officials said the switch from ground venison to whole-meat pieces likely will mean fewer processors will participate in the program, and the whole-meat might not be as popular with food-shelf users as the ground venison.

“We worked hard to save the program,” said Lou Cornicelli, Department of Natural Resources big game program leader. “I don’t see any way around it. I realize this doesn’t please everybody, but the alternative was no program.”

The Minnesota Department of Agriculture will check the effectiveness of the changes by using X-rays on donated samples to detect lead fragments. Processors whose products are found to contain lead or other contaminants may be ineligible for future participation in the venison donation program.

30 processors trained

Nearly 25 percent of the ground venison tested earlier this year had some lead contamination, Cornicelli said. He said lead fragments apparently were getting widely dispersed when meat was mixed and ground in large batches. Almost no lead was found in whole-meat cuts, he said.

About 30 meat processors already have received training, he said. Seventy-two processors participated in the program last year. Processors are paid $70 for each deer they butcher.

The venison-donation program is important because it encourages hunters to shoot more deer than they can consume themselves. In many areas of the state, high deer populations are a concern.

“Hunting is the only tool we have to regulate deer numbers,” Cornicelli said. “This is an outlet for those who want to take an extra deer. And it’s a good protein source for those who use food shelves, and we know there are a lot of people in need right now.”

Hunters donated about 2,000 deer last year, the first year of the program. The 2007 Legislature appropriated $160,000 and increased nonresident license fees to pay for the program, and the DNR accepts donations from hunters.

Lead contamination in venison hadn’t been an issue until it was discovered in ground venison in North Dakota earlier this year. Tests of donated venison in Minnesota and Wisconsin also found lead contamination.

Officials say a lead bullet fired from a high-powered rifle can fragment on impact, spreading very small pieces of lead in the meat.

The Minnesota DNR has included recommendations in its 2008 hunting regulations booklet on how hunters can avoid lead contamination.

dsmith@startribune.com • 612-673-7667