February 25, 2013 9:09 AM Louisiana Forces Homeless Shelter To Destroy $8,000 Worth Of Deer Meat « CBS Houston SHREVEPORT, La. (CBS Houston) — Louisiana’s State Health Department forced a homeless shelter to destroy $8,000 worth of deer meat because it was donated from a hunter organization. KTBS-TV reports that the Shreveport-Bossier Rescue Mission lost 1,600 pounds of venison because the state’s Health Department doesn’t recognize Hunters for the Hungry, an organization that allows hunters to donate any extra game to charity. “We didn’t find anything wrong with it,” Rev. Henry Martin told KTBS. “It was processed correctly, it was packaged correctly.” The trouble began last month after the Department of Health and Hospitals received a complaint that deer meat was being served at the homeless shelter. A health inspector went out and told the homeless shelter that deer meat was not allowed to be served and that is had to be destroyed. “Although the meat was processed at a slaughterhouse (Bellevue) that is permitted by the Louisiana Department of Agriculture to prepare and commercially distribute meat obtained from approved farms, deer are not an approved meat source to be distributed commercially,” the department said on its Facebook page. “And because hunters brought the deer to the slaughterhouse, there is no way to verify how the deer were killed, prepared or stored.” Martin says that bleach had to be poured onto the meat in order to destroy it. “They threw it in the dumpster and poured Clorox on it,” Martin told KTBS. “Not only are we losing out and it’s costing us money, the people that are hungry aren’t going to get as quality of food, the hunter that’s given his meat in good faith is losing out.” “While we applaud the good intentions of the hunters who donated this meat, we must protect the people who eat at Rescue Mission, and we cannot allow a potentially serious health threat to endanger the public,” the Health Department stated. The department says it is now working with hunters in ways to donate extra game to homeless shelters.
Five bucks says some bambi hugger set this whole thing in motion. Pretty sure it wasn't the homeless people complaining.
Maybe it was a Welfare Mommie complaining that is also a Green Leafer, so stupid to waste a product butchered and packed and of a great source of protein.
There was a lot of stupidity involved here. I like how they go on to say that the department will work with hunters to help get meat distributed to the needy... with help like that...
The only reason people who make laws like this are allowed to stay in place is rule of law. And the fact that the food, not just meat but FOOD was not permitted to be returned to either the packer or the individual that donated it is unacceptable. I'm not one for frivolous lawsuits and...in retrospect of the last sentence I don't think there should be one because ultimately "we the people" would foot the bill for it but the people who put their foot down and said "No, you can't feed it to them," should be fired/turned out of office, for cause so they don't get severance or unemployment. Let them stand in the bread line and eat at the soup kitchen...oh wait, they are 3200 meals short!
This nonsense wont last much longer. I read somewhere that during the depression a dear could be found in alabama or georgia.
We went through that crap here, when they needed to thin the deer herd in a major metro park. Because the homeless shelters were not allowed to accept it (it was not USDA approved meat) the reworked the law to allow a processor to pass a class to get certified, that his methods were clean and matched butcher requirements. then hunters could drop off deer to be processed for the homeless, but at hunter cost. The hunters refused. So the law was reworked again. Now any hunter can drop off deer for the shelters at any certified processor, and which ever organization wants it, pays the processing fee. There are now several "hunters against hunger" type programs. Here, there even hunters on road kill lists with the local sheriff or highway patrol, to claim and butcher deer hit by cars for the undamaged meat, so as not to go to waste. Deer can not be bought or sold (just given away) and this kind of waste is both insulting, and infuriating.
I have to say this part bothers me almost as much as the destruction. Heaven forbid individual citizens should provide assistance to their neighbors...we must have the government act as "middleman" so that they maintain control by controlling the food.
Oh, in most places, you can give venison to anyone you wish, except the unwashed masses. if it has any Government connection then for liability reasons, it must be held to a higher standard. But if I choose to, I could give my hard earned deer meat to any neighbor who needed it, no questions asked. (And I do hand out venison to some) There was a short time when that was not so, but it has been sorted out.
This is a great of example of what Sowell is speaking of here: Shepherds and Sheep — The Patriot Post
Looks like the govt got jealous of somebody doing a good deed without their meddling. The homeless must not be that hungry.
Nah, what they didn't like was that it wasn't hormone laced, pink slimed factory mystery meat. None of their friends made a profit off of it. You think the officials really care about the hungry? Not a chance, unless they are running for election. Then it's only for show.
