After being nudged into thinking about it by Shade's post on feeding in the Vampire sectionwhich I would recommend all to read. I thought it might be prudent to post something about meats here for the Weres.
Many Weres eat either semi cooked or in some cases even uncooked meats of various kinds so it is worth being careful of a few basic problems.

Prion Disease.
Certain parts of meat, and especially Beef can in rare circumstances contain Bovine spongiform encephalopthy (BSE) which in small doses can then lead to Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in Humans.
Even proper cooking doesnt necessarily kill this as it is (I believe) a malformed protein that enters the nerve tissue to cause the onset of the disease.
Eating high quality unprocessed beef is the best answer here.

Worms
yes Yuck but eating raw or undercooked meat can expose you to tapeworm spores which are carried in various tissues of animals (especially pigs) which have been infected.
Proper cooking to at least 150F (66C ) or freezing solid for at least 12 hours will kill the spores.

Wild meat
Any animal you might take by hunting has an uncertain past so be aware that you should be very careful about cleaning and cooking all wild meats.
Worms are not very prevalent in most wild beasts in the UK but may be elsewhere.
Personally I am wary of rabbits with myximitosis and do not eat or recommend anyone eating a rabbit that is showing signs of the disease.(to be honest if it's advanced enough I don't feed them to my animals either.)

Another good reason for being careful about your meat is the possibilty of food poisoning.
Improper storage can be one cause but another is the use of antibiotics to grow animals faster.
While it does not always directly affect you it can affect the naturally occuring bacteria in the meat which become resistant to the drugs used and pass on to the final consumer making treatment very difficult. (source)

Unfortunately the market for meat appears to be becoming a real minefield suggesting that wherever possible meat of all kinds should be properly cooked,however that is not really the issue here.

My advice is to try and always use certified organically raised meat.
Ask around locally and see which butchers are highly thought of.
If you can, get to know your butcher and see what he/she eats.
A Butcher is unlikely to eat anything dodgy.

If you eat wild meat.
Prepare it carefully and store it properly.The last thing you want for your pains is food poisoning.
Be careful not to contaminate either the meat or yourself whilst cleaning it.

I have never in any of my lives eaten raw meat (being Phoenix precludes that) so I am speaking from a point of concern rather than experience.

One last thought for you is that I have had a tape worm (I was told I caught it from a cat) and take it from me it's a truly yucky experience but it is easily treated.
If you ever have a problem of this sort please go to the Doctors and get it fixed, certain types of Tape worm can be quite dangerous if left to their own devices.

Be safe

Zygo

I will completely agree with you on the fact of the tapeworm Zygo, I've seen stories about others that have gotten them, and it's not a pretty sight, or a good feeling to have. Even the thought of having one of those makes me shudder.

Completely excellent advice.
I hope everyone here appreciates it. And listens to it.

Me too Shade ....Darksilence it still makes my skin crawl to think about it even now

One thing I forgot was that certain game animals (particularly birds) are hung for an amount of time before you eat them.

This is really only to add flavour but does also increase the amount of bacteria present in the meat.
So Grouse, Pheasant, Partridge, Occasionally Pigeon, Duck and Hare,need to be considered dodgy.

Please don't anyone eat any of these uncooked unless you have caught it yourself and are cooking it straight out of the field.
If it's been hung for any length of time cook it really well before you eat it.

Zygo

Something else to add.

Apparently the Tape worm that cows get does not migrate to other parts of the body so while it is unpleasant it is not that dangerous.

Zygo

I think I am now a vegetarian.

Thats was interesting thanx for the info but you forgot mad cow disease

Good point Wolfie I should have explained that Bovine Spongiform Encaphalopathy is also known as Mad Cow disease.

Thanks

Zygo

your welcome

I love fish, especially trout,I spent quite a while when the only meat I ate was wild caught (by hand) trout and tuna and salad cream sandwiches, mayonnaise sucks it greasy oily stuff, yuck, so I use salad cream.
There are other freshwater fish which are pretty good too, Pike is very tasty but bony and large Eels are great,I like proper smoked salmon, the stuff you get in long thin packets, and Mackerel and Coley are good to eat too.

I sometimes eat a folded seafood pizza which is brilliant ,it has squid, mussels, cockles, and anchovies on it.It tastes like eating a beach but wow does it float my boat
I have eaten squirrel once but I was not overly impressed with it, you have to be a bit careful how you cook it or it turns into shrinkwrap and is impossible to chew satifactorily.
I suppose I could live on it fairly happily but I would miss fish.

Wild

I've never enjoyed fish, except for just recently i've started liking sushi, but only the crab and eel tho i can't really eat those by themselves. I guess i just like elk, buffalo, cow and chicken much too much for my own good. Tho being mostly cat you'd think i'd enjoy the aquatic life at least a little bit...

OK Wild I was with you right up to the seafood wrap pizza!!!
I haven't heard described anything that sounded so yukky in a long time. It may foat your boat, but I bet your'e single!!
Oo-eey with a diet like that......Phew!



I don't think Squirrel would be my bag even if I ate meat and it was done to a turn, as for shrink wrap, I think I would hand it back, I'm not that into chewing!

Oh ugh! I am in complete agreement with Darke. You would not have to fight me for ownership of that.

Me too.
And me either. It's as tough as hemp string and twice as tasteless.

What a truly excellent description of squirrel.
There are people in the UK that call them Tree Rats and I can see why too.
They eat all the nice native trees and leave the others alone then to add to their delightful habits eat all the birds eggs too.

You'd think the least they could do is taste good.

Wild

Oh no, the only reason they're not eaten is because they taste so bad. The know if they tasted good they might be extinct by now, so they taste awful on purpose!

My theory on squirrels.

I appreciated the thought behind the post but found the tapeworm stuff a bit nasty.
I mean I understand it's needed but it's not great to think about is it?

Dea.