# Giving roadkill to food banks - how is this a thing? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 5, 2024, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giving-roadkill-to-food-banks-how-is-this-a-thing/1005298 "2024-08-05T21:58:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2024, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giving-roadkill-to-food-banks-how-is-this-a-thing/1005298/1 "2024-08-05T21:58:43Z")
Continuing the discussion from [RFK Jr Files to Run for President](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rfk-jr-files-to-run-for-president/982260/613): > [@RFK Jr Files to Run for President (Dropped Out on August 23, 2024)](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rfk-jr-files-to-run-for-president-dropped-out-on-august-23-2024/982260/613): > > No, in rural areas where wildlife corpses like deer, moose, etc. on the roadside are fairly common, the game wardens will tag it and give it to the motorist who hit it or found it; if that person declines it it will go to the local food bank > [@RFK Jr Files to Run for President (Dropped Out on August 23, 2024)](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rfk-jr-files-to-run-for-president-dropped-out-on-august-23-2024/982260/614): > > We’re going to throw this in the dumpster… Hey let’s give it to the poors instead!’ isn’t demeaning? Maybe this is the fact that I’ve always lived in cities talking, but the idea of giving roadkill meat to food banks just floors me. From a food safety standpoint, it doesn’t seem safe to eat meat that’s been lying out at ambient temperature for who knows how long - I mean, I’ll throw out hamburger meat from the store if I accidentally forget to put it in the fridge and it sits out for an hour. Ive had far too much education on food safety to trust my health to a dead animal on the curb. Wild meat could have all kinds of parasites in it or be carrying diseases that farmed meat is screened for. From a human standpoint, it seems demeaning to the poor to expect them to eat meat that can’t be guaranteed to be safe, especially when a low-income household might not have anything besides a microwave or a toaster oven to cook with. My family had to take advantage of food banks when I was a kid and never once were we given mystery meat. I work at a grocery store and all the food banks around here get most of their stock from us and our competitors, and from talking to the people who work at them I’ve been told that if someome did show up with random meat it goes right in the dumpster. Is this really a thing? How does it get done safely? Have you ever received roadkill from a food bank or given it with the expectation that it would be used? ---
**Author:** ![Seanette](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/seanette/32/9139_2.png) [@Seanette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seanette)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2024, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giving-roadkill-to-food-banks-how-is-this-a-thing/1005298/2 "2024-08-05T22:01:57Z")
Can’t answer for food banks, but I’ve eaten roadkill deer. I was a kid at the time, and my father knew very well it was perfectly fresh, since he was the one who’d (completely unintentionally) hit it. It was in the pickup in minutes, being processed as any other game within the hour. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2024, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giving-roadkill-to-food-banks-how-is-this-a-thing/1005298/3 "2024-08-05T22:02:11Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > How does it get done safely? I’d imagine it would first have to go to a butcher to get processed first. I’m guessing people are donating the meat, not the carcass. From Wisconsin, for deer hunters: [https://dnr.wisconsin.gov/topic/hunt/donation.html](https://dnr.wisconsin.gov/topic/hunt/donation.html) It states what I was guessing, you have it processed and donate the meat. You’re not just hauling a dead deer to the pantry. Also found this: > **[Whitefish food bank provides 1,500 meals using roadkill](https://nbcmontana.com/news/local/whitefish-food-bank-provides-1500-meals-using-roadkill_20160512152544582)** > > NBC Montana, operating as KECI in Missoula, KCFW in Kalispell, and KTVM in Butte and simulcasting through KDBZ in Bozeman offer local and national news stories, sports, weather forecasts as well as entertainment programming. Our coverage area... Same thing here, a butcher processes it first. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2024, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giving-roadkill-to-food-banks-how-is-this-a-thing/1005298/4 "2024-08-05T22:07:20Z")
> [@Seanette](#): > > Can’t answer for food banks, but I’ve eaten roadkill deer. A friend of mine comes from a hunting family. A while back she was working “nuisance control” for a city and one of her jobs involved assisting cops with roadkill. Once or twice she field dressed a deer on the side of the road and took it home. ---
**Author:** ![dougrb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/76d3ee/32.png) [@dougrb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougrb)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2024, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giving-roadkill-to-food-banks-how-is-this-a-thing/1005298/5 "2024-08-05T22:07:45Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > it doesn’t seem safe to eat meat that’s been lying out at ambient temperature for who knows how long If it was just hit that’s not an issue. ---
**Author:** ![Seanette](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/seanette/32/9139_2.png) [@Seanette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seanette)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2024, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giving-roadkill-to-food-banks-how-is-this-a-thing/1005298/6 "2024-08-05T22:08:26Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > A friend of mine comes from a hunting family. A while back she was working “nuisance control” for a city and one of her jobs involved assisting cops with roadkill. Once or twice she field dressed a deer on the side of the road and took it home. If it’s known to be fresh (I’d hesitate at it having been dead more than an hour or two), I see no reason to not take it home and make use of it. Seems better than wasting all that meat. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2024, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giving-roadkill-to-food-banks-how-is-this-a-thing/1005298/7 "2024-08-05T22:10:31Z")
> [@dougrb](#): > > If it was just hit that’s not an issue. I assume that getting in touch with animal control and hauling the carcass to a butcher would take several hours if not overnight. That seems like a problem to me if it isn’t promptly refrigerated. Am I missing something here? ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2024, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giving-roadkill-to-food-banks-how-is-this-a-thing/1005298/8 "2024-08-05T22:10:59Z")
> [@Seanette](#): > > If it’s known to be fresh In at least one of those cases, she had to, um, finish the job. The deer was very recently deceased. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2024, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giving-roadkill-to-food-banks-how-is-this-a-thing/1005298/9 "2024-08-05T22:12:03Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > I assume that getting in touch with animal control and hauling the carcass to a butcher would take several hours if not overnight. That seems like a problem to me if it isn’t promptly refrigerated. Am I missing something here? How long does it take someone that shot a deer in the middle of the woods to get it back to a butcher? ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2024, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giving-roadkill-to-food-banks-how-is-this-a-thing/1005298/10 "2024-08-05T22:13:51Z")
It was totally a thing in Alaska, until Covid. So many moose are killed on roads each year, Alaska State Troopers has an official list to sign up to butcher roadkill. It use to be that you had to give half the meat to the food bank. > **[Roadkill Moose Fed Alaska Families for Years. Then Came COVID-19. • Stateline](https://stateline.org/2020/12/16/roadkill-moose-fed-alaska-families-for-years-then-came-covid-19/)** > > It always broke Laurie Speakman’s heart to hear that another moose was struck and killed on the rural highway near her home in Soldotna, Alaska, on the western end of the Kenai Peninsula. But it also warmed her to know that several local families... > **[Roadkill - AWT - Alaska Department of Public Safety](https://dps.alaska.gov/AWT/Roadkill)** > > The Department of Public Safety (DPS) is the state agency charged with providing functions relative to the protection of life, property, and wildlife resources. > Department members enforce criminal laws, traffic laws and regulations, wildlife laws... ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2024, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giving-roadkill-to-food-banks-how-is-this-a-thing/1005298/11 "2024-08-05T22:17:23Z")
Yeah, you don’t do it with road pizza that you just found lying there wearing tire tread. And you certainly don’t do it with an animal who died of natural causes. When you hit the deer, you call the authorities right away. It’s no different from a deer that died from a gunshot, and hunted game is prized in rural areas (I’ve had some seriously amazing venison chili). As for freshness, even with the time to get the authorities there and get it to a butcher, it’s probably still a lot fresher than the beef and pork you city-folk eat. City folk might think country attitudes are weird, but the feeling is absolutely mutual. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2024, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giving-roadkill-to-food-banks-how-is-this-a-thing/1005298/12 "2024-08-05T22:28:15Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > I assume that getting in touch with animal control and hauling the carcass to a butcher would take several hours if not overnight. That seems like a problem to me if it isn’t promptly refrigerated. Am I missing something here? If you shoot a deer in the woods there will be a time interval before you get it to either a butcher for processing or take it home to do it yourself. The meat you get at the grocery store, not to put too fine a point on it, has been dead for days already. It has already “used up” a lot of the time until it’s no longer fit to eat. Something just killed should be processed as soon as practical, but it’s not an emergency and it doesn’t have to be done in an hour (though it’s great if it can happen that fast). Field dressing removes the greatest spoilage hazard, after which the carcass is not only lighter but has some time before it goes bad. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2024, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giving-roadkill-to-food-banks-how-is-this-a-thing/1005298/13 "2024-08-05T22:29:33Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > I assume that getting in touch with animal control and hauling the carcass to a butcher would take several hours if not overnight. That seems like a problem to me if it isn’t promptly refrigerated. Am I missing something here? You are missing the vast majority of human history when people didn’t have “prompt refrigeration” and survived eating meat that was a few hours old just fine. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2024, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giving-roadkill-to-food-banks-how-is-this-a-thing/1005298/14 "2024-08-05T22:46:48Z")
If you hit a deer. (We’ve hit many) You call 911. If, big if, you’re alive. Good. If the deer is still alive, possible. It needs to be dispatched quickly. It’s best to wait on LE to do this. They get Game warden out quickly enough. He and whoever he can enlist field dress it. The Game wardens have freezers available and places that make applications for it. They know exactly where to take it. I’m sure rotten roadkill of unknown heritage is not donated. Just hauled to a landfill somewhere. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2024, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giving-roadkill-to-food-banks-how-is-this-a-thing/1005298/15 "2024-08-05T22:46:58Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > You are missing the vast majority of human history when people didn’t have “prompt refrigeration” and survived eating meat that was a few hours old just fine. Well, the ones who didn’t die of trichinosis, at least. I’m not sure I understand the process of deciding what animal that’s dead on the roadside is and isn’t safe to eat. I would not do well in a post-apocalypse. What about RFK’s bear that inspired this post? If he’d called that in, would they be sending bear meat to the food bank? ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2024, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giving-roadkill-to-food-banks-how-is-this-a-thing/1005298/16 "2024-08-05T22:48:55Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > I’m not sure I understand the process of deciding what animal that’s dead on the roadside is and isn’t safe to eat. I don’t know what’s hard to understand. This isn’t people finding random corpses of unknown age, this is animals immediately after they are hit so the exact time of death is known. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2024, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giving-roadkill-to-food-banks-how-is-this-a-thing/1005298/17 "2024-08-05T22:49:28Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > What about RFK’s bear that inspired this post? RFK is a raving nutjob. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2024, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giving-roadkill-to-food-banks-how-is-this-a-thing/1005298/18 "2024-08-05T22:49:46Z")
They are always suspect if you didn’t see it get hit. My advice, don’t pick up dead animals on the side of the road for dinner. Ever. Oh in Texas they have many roadside Zoos. These people keep the roadkill picked up. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2024, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giving-roadkill-to-food-banks-how-is-this-a-thing/1005298/19 "2024-08-05T22:56:20Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > I don’t know what’s hard to understand. This isn’t people finding random corpses of unknown age, this is animals immediately after they are hit so the exact time of death is known. Freshness isn’t the only concern. How do you determine on the roadside that the animal didn’t have parasites or an infection that could taint the meat? I’m legitimately asking. > [@Broomstick](#): > > If you shoot a deer in the woods there will be a time interval before you get it to either a butcher for processing or take it home to do it yourself. > > The meat you get at the grocery store, not to put too fine a point on it, has been dead for days already. I But with the farmed animal the interval before it goes into refrigeration is much shorter, is it not? ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2024, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giving-roadkill-to-food-banks-how-is-this-a-thing/1005298/20 "2024-08-05T22:59:21Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > How do you determine on the roadside that the animal didn’t have parasites or an infection that could taint the meat? The same way you would with a shot animal, I assume. Then you cook the meat so that any unnoticed parasites are killed. They aren’t feeding people moose tartare. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giving-roadkill-to-food-banks-how-is-this-a-thing/1005298.md?page=2)