Is Bear and Wild Hog Sausage Safe? Trichinella and Cooking Temps

Short answer:

Trichinellosis is rare in the US now. CDC puts it at about 15 confirmed cases a year. But most of those come from wild game, and homemade sausage and jerky are exactly where it shows up. CDC counted seven outbreaks from 2016 through 2022, and bear meat was the suspected or confirmed source in most of them.

Which wild meats carry trichinella?

The worm lives in the muscle of meat eaters and scavengers. CDC names bear, wild boar, wildcat, fox, wolf, seal and walrus as the usual wild sources. Hunters will also see cougar on that list: CDC's 2024 bear report notes even higher infection rates in strict carnivores such as polar bear, wolverine and cougar.

• Bear. The big one. Reported infection rates in black bears in Canada and Alaska run from at least 1% to 24%. You cannot see the larvae and you cannot tell which bear has them.
• Wild boar and feral hog. CDC lists wild boar as a usual source, and Wisconsin's health department names bear and wild pigs as the most common ones.
• Cougar. Strict carnivore, so it belongs in the same group as bear.
• Walrus and seal. Also on the CDC list.

Deer, elk and antelope are not the trichinella worry. Venison has its own separate issue, CWD, covered further down.

Does freezing kill trichinella in bear meat?

No, not reliably. This is the one that catches people, because freezing does work on farm pork.

The old federal rule for pork plants (9 CFR 318.10, since removed) cleared pork pieces up to 6 inches thick after 20 days at 5°F. CDC still gives that same number for pork. That works because the species in pork, Trichinella spiralis, dies in the freezer.

Bears in the north, including Canada and Alaska, commonly carry Trichinella nativa, which is freeze resistant. CDC says the freeze-resistant species predominate in Arctic and sub-Arctic regions. CDC says freezing wild game meat may not kill all the worms for exactly that reason. The real cases show it:

• 2022, South Dakota. A black bear from Saskatchewan was frozen for 45 days because the outfitter said freezing would kill parasites. Six of the eight people interviewed got sick, and three went to the hospital. Lab tests found live, moving larvae in leftover meat that had been in a household freezer for 110 days.
• 2003, New York. A man got sick from bear meat that had been frozen at about -4°F for a week. The lab found T. nativa.

And a bear is not guaranteed to carry only the freeze-resistant kind. In a 2024 North Carolina outbreak traced to homemade bear jerky, the parasite in the meat was T. spiralis. You can't know which one your animal has, so the safe move is to treat all bear and wild hog as if the freezer does nothing.

Method	Farm pork	Bear, wild boar, feral hog
Freezing	Works (5°F for 20 days, up to 6 in thick)	Not reliable
Curing (salting)	Does not reliably kill it on its own
Smoking	Does not reliably kill it on its own
Drying	Does not reliably kill it on its own
Microwaving	Does not reliably kill it on its own
Cooking to temperature	Kills it. 165°F internal, checked with a probe.

What internal temperature kills trichinella?

Take bear and wild hog to 165°F (74°C) internal and hold it there 3 minutes. That is our number, and 165°F is what CDC recommends for wild game now. Its 2024 bear report and a 2026 report on the North Carolina jerky outbreak both say it, and North Dakota Game and Fish says 165°F too.

The DeepWoodz app puts it right under the meat on wild game recipes: bear or wild hog, take it to 165°F and hold 3 minutes.

You may see 160°F in older advice. CDC's 2004 bear report used it, and some state agencies still do. CDC's current reports say 165°F, so that is the number we go by.

The thermometer is the only way to know. Bear meat is dark, and in the 2022 outbreak the family served it rare because they couldn't tell by looking. They put it back on the grill, but by then it had already been eaten.

Source	Wild game internal temp
DeepWoodz app (bear, wild hog)	165°F, held 3 minutes
CDC, 2024 bear report	165°F or higher
North Dakota Game and Fish (bear, cougar)	At least 165°F

Why are dried, fermented and cold-smoked sausages the risk?

Because they never get hot. A salami or pepperoni is fermented, maybe cold smoked at 65–70°F, then hung for weeks until it reaches its target weight loss. It is eaten without ever being cooked. Curing, smoking and drying are the three things CDC and the state agencies say do not reliably kill trichinella.

The old federal pork rule is a good tell. It named summer sausage, dried sausage, smoked sausage and cured pork sausage among the pork products that had to be specially treated for trichinella, because they could be eaten without thorough cooking. Plants could treat pork by heating, freezing or set curing methods. With bear, freezing and curing are exactly the two you can't rely on.

That is why the fermented sausages in the DeepWoodz app, like Heritage Salami and Backwoods Pepperoni, carry this note: never use bear, wild boar, feral hog or cougar. This sausage is never cooked, and curing and drying do not reliably kill trichinella in those meats. Use deer, elk, antelope or beef for the lean meat.

Jerky is the same story. The 2024 North Carolina outbreak came from bear jerky that was marinated and dehydrated but likely never got hot enough. If you make jerky from bear or hog, heat the meat to 165°F before or after drying. The app's 3-minute hold applies here too.

So what can you make with bear or wild hog?

Anything that gets cooked all the way to temperature. That means smoked sausage taken to 165°F in the smoker, or fresh sausage cooked to 165°F in the pan or on the grill.

Product	Bear or wild hog?	Why
Smoked sticks, rings, links, summer sausage	Yes, to 165°F	Cooked through in the smoker. Normal pull is 152–155°F, so keep going to 165°F.
Fresh sausage, brats	Yes, to 165°F	Cooked to 165°F before eating
Jerky	Only with a 165°F heat step	Drying alone is not enough
Salami, pepperoni, fermented sticks	No	Never cooked
Cold-smoked anything	No	Never gets hot

The step people miss is the pull temperature. Snack sticks and ring bologna normally come off at 152°F, and cured summer sausage comes off at 155°F. Those numbers are right for venison and beef. With bear or wild hog, keep the cook going to 165°F.

Tree Stand Landjäger is built for this. It names bear, wild boar and feral hog right in the recipe: 130°F for an hour with the damper open, 150°F with smoke for 3 hours, then 170°F until the inside hits 155°F, or 165°F if you used bear, wild boar or feral hog. Only after that does it go in the fridge to dry until it has lost about 30% of its weight. The drying comes after the cook, so the drying is never what you're counting on for safety.

Keep the smoker under control while you chase those extra 10 degrees. The Landjäger recipe says don't let the smoker go above 170°F, or the fat renders out and the texture turns dry and grainy. Give it more time, not more heat.

How do you handle the raw meat?

• Never taste it raw. CDC warns that tasting small amounts of raw or undercooked meat while you make sausage or jerky is enough. Cook the test patty all the way through before you taste it.
• Keep it apart. In the 2022 outbreak, two of the people who got sick ate only the vegetables that were grilled with the bear. Separate boards, separate pans, and keep raw bear away from anything that won't be cooked.
• Wash everything. Hot soapy water on the grinder, knives, boards and your hands.
• Wear gloves when you dress and process feral hogs. Texas A&M AgriLife guidance recommends it.

Symptoms can start in a day or two as stomach trouble, then move into fever, muscle pain and swelling around the eyes over the next couple of weeks. If you get sick within about 8 weeks of eating bear or other wild game, tell your doctor what you ate.

What about CWD in venison?

That's a separate issue, and cooking does not fix it. Chronic wasting disease is a prion disease of deer, elk and moose. Cooking does not destroy CWD prions. A 2025 study in CDC's journal found prions still present in elk meat after grilling and boiling.

CDC says no human case of CWD has ever been reported, and it's not known whether people can get it. Its advice is to test before you eat, and not to eat meat from an animal that tests positive. The DeepWoodz recipes put it in one line: if you use venison, follow your state's CWD testing advice. Cooking does not destroy CWD prions.

So with bear and hog, heat is the fix. With deer, the fix is testing.

In DeepWoodz Smokehouse the bear and wild hog note sits right under the meat on wild game recipes, where you choose what goes in the grinder. The fermented recipes say outright not to use those meats, and every recipe scales to your exact batch with the cure locked safe.

Bottom line

Bear and wild hog make good sausage as long as it's cooked. Take it to 165°F internal with a probe and hold it 3 minutes. Don't trust the freezer, don't taste it raw, and keep bear, wild boar, feral hog and cougar out of anything dried, fermented or cold smoked.

Common questions