JeffS

Ibutchered 4 small wild hogs today and one of them had white spots about 3/8" all over the liver and lungs. The meat looked good but the liver was hard and the look of the liver and lungs looked bad so I threw the hog away. I'm assuming it had some kind of disease but I'm not sure what it is. Has anybody else seen anything like that before? I figured it wasn't worth the risk to try to keep it.

Rebel Hog

Liver Biopsy
Often times a liver biopsy will be ordered because it provides reliable information for a cancer diagnosis. A biopsy involves the collection of a small tissue sample that is then examined under a microscope. Normal cells have a distinct and orderly appearance and are different than cancer cells which are chaotic and malformed. By examining the cells under a microscope, the pathologist can determine the presence of diseased cells and the extent of their invasion.
The first image shows a normal liver. The white arrows show the liver sinusoids (small blood vessels that supply liver cells). The dark arrow shows the portal pedicle which contains 3 structures (liver artery, vein and bile duct). Blood enters the liver from the portal pedicle, passes through the liver sinusoids and leaves the liver through a central vein. The next image shows a cirrhotic liver. The arrows outline a nodule within the liver. Comparing this image to the previous one shows scar and fatty deposits (as indicated by the clear white spots).




The last image shows a metastatic colon cancer in the liver. The arrows show the area of the tumor, which is surrounded by scar tissue.

tnhuntr1977

Spots on the liver are bad news, especially with hogs, from what I have read.

You were probably better off not taking any chances.

Rebel Hog

I raised rabbits for many years and always checked the livers for White Spots!We are told not to consume them! Rabbits which have been treated with Medicated Feed ( Sulfurquinoxaline) must not be consumed by humans for 30 days after treatment.

atcfisherman

So does this mean that any hog I kill, I should look at the liver while cleaning for spots? I have never done this, so I want to be sure.

gahoghntr

deer get white spots on their livers too, from what i have been told it does not affect the meat just dont eat the liver

drs1961

Possibly brucellosis. Spots on the liver are one of the signs. The CDC says the meat is OK once cooked but advises not to get blood and body fluids on you during butchering. It is possible to catch the disease from the hog.

Tree climber

I would estamate that about 1/2 the hogs I take has spots on there liver.I don't eat that liver,but eat all the rest of the hog.I'm still going after 60 years of eating wild hogs,so I don't think it will hurt you.JMHO

JeffS

The meat looked good but I wasn't sure about it. We get plenty of them so I didn't want to take a chance. Alot of times we don't even gut them so we don't see the liver. We skin them an cut out the back straps, front shoulders, and hind quarters and throw the rest away.

Who

When my sons were in High School they raised hogs for Ag. We would take them to the Texas Tec Meat lab to be butchered. I ask the FDA inspector about wild hogs and he told me,"If I had to inspect them I would probably have to destroy 50% of them!"
http://www.noble.org/Ag/Wildlife/FeralHogs/10-Disease.htm
Lots of other information out there but I have to go to work lol