Duck Meat Question

[Shag Nasty]

Good Morning Everyone,
I've shot a fair number of puddlers this year and I usually breast-out the birds. I've noticed that in about 1 out of every 5 or ten mallards I kill I find these little white spots on the breast meat. They look almost like maggots but they don't move. I've heard that they are fat deposits, but they look an awful lot like worms. I hate to waste good meat but I'm not gonna eat meat with worms. I haven't noticed this in any of the geese or divers I've shot. Can anyone advise?

Thanks, Dave

[onthefly]

SN,

Sounds like "Rice Breast Disease", a parasitic cyst that is found in many species of waterfowl. It has been reported it can not be transfered or have any harm on humans and can be consumed when cook properly. However personally I usually prefer not to eat them, but I usually only see one or two a year.

OTF

[moronehead]

Its most likely Sarcocystis. Its a parasitic protozoan thats killed when the meat is cooked.

[Shag Nasty]

Yuck!

[funofitfarm]

just eat with cooked white rice so the wife wont know

[shoot-straight]

yep the're parasites, that the ducks get from eating raccoon poop. the duck is the intermediate host. yes, it wont hurt you if the're cooked, but its nasty. i hardly shoot blacks anymore because of their high frequency of infection. also, i never pluck ducks anymore either. why spend the time or money, when it just hides something SO disgusting.....

[drakehunter]

I always wanted a good reason not to pluck a duck. Now I have one!!!

[eastduck]

Sarcocystis or rice breast disease is a nonfatal, usually asymptomatic infection that is caused by a parasitic protozoan. Various species of this parasite affect mammals, reptiles and birds. The most commonly reported species of the parasite in North America is Sarcocystis rileyi, the species most commonly found in waterfowl.

Birds ingest the eggs or oocyst of the mature parasite in food or water that
is contaminated by carnivore feces, which contain the oocysts. The oocysts
develop in the intestine of the bird into an intermediate form, the sporozoites, that enter the bird's bloodstream and infect specific cells of the blood vessels. Multiplication of these cells gives rise to a second intermediate form, merozoites, that are carried by the blood to the voluntary muscles, where elongated cysts or macrocysts are eventually
produced. The life cycle is completed when a carnivore ingests the infected
muscle tissue of a bird and the parasite reaches maturity and releases
oocysts in the intestines of the carnivore.

Sarcoystis is a common parasitic infection of some waterfowl species, and it is found throughout the geographic range of those species in North America. Usually, there is no externally visible sign of this disease nor is it recognized as a direct cause of migratory bird mortality. Severe infections can cause loss of muscle tissue and result in lameness, weakness, and even paralysis in rare cases. The debilitating effects of severe infections
could increase bird susceptibility to predation and to other causes of
mortality.

Visible forms of infection are readily apparent when the skin is removed from the bird. In waterfowl and in many other species, infection appears as cream‑colored, cylindrical cysts (the macrocysts) that resemble grains of rice running in parallel streaks through the muscle tissue. The cysts are commonly found in the breast muscle, but they are also found in other skeletal and cardiac muscle.

There are no known control methods for this disease, nor do any seem to be needed or are any being developed as current knowledge of the disease does not indicate any evidence that bird health is often compromised by infection. Nevertheless, the role of carnivores in the life cycle of Sarcocystis sp. infections should be considered when feeding uncooked, infected waterfowl to house pets and to farm animals such as hogs.

Sarcocystis sp. presents no known health hazard to humans. The primary importance to humans of sarcocystis in waterfowl is the loss of infected birds for food; the unaesthetic appearance of parasitized muscle may prompt hunters to discard the carcass.

I chunk them

[drakehunter]

This whole subject makes the usual cooking of duck breasts to medium rare seem kinda like a bad idea to me. By the way, I am completely impressed with all of this detailed information. Not only is this site informative, but it is also educational![excited]

[mikehn]

I have eaten a lot worse

[eastduck]

Mikehn
Ha I hear you loud and clear brother, haven't we all.

[choptank]

Whats up OTF .....

The "Rice Breast" is typicly only in puddlers so I hear and possibly transferable to dogs as they may be a possible host this disease.

[pbramble]

yeah, those things are nasty, never seen them in divers, only mallards and blacks.

[MarkTakacs]

Definately rice breast.........I chuck then too!

Mark

[Jimmy Kipper]

Yuck! I knew there was a reason why I always stuck to deer hunting.

[Bullbuster]

Never run into this rice worm thing before. Is it more of an East Coast thing. Have never seen it on any birds from the west coast. I have broken many a filling on that missed piece of shot in meat.

[ketch69]

I'm with you on this one Jimmy. No Duck hunting for me either.


DEAN

[Mightyrjq]

mmmm... rice parasites

[Capt.Nick]

Don't worry about the parasites.It's the Mercury &
PCB's in the meat that'll eventually kill you