CDC: Family Contracts ‘Brain Worms’ After Cooking Black Bear Meat

Six family members from across the United States who attended a family reunion contracted a foodborne disease after cooking black bear meat. The family got together for a meal of black bear meat, which one family member had brought from a hunt in northern Saskatchewan, Canada, roughly two months prior. The meal included kebobs (kebabs) made from black bear meat, cooked with vegetables. As a result of consuming the meal, six of the eight family members contracted a foodborne illness known as trichinellosis, or “brain worms,” according to a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). “Trichinellosis is a parasitic zoonotic disease transmitted through the consumption of meat from animals infected with Trichinella spp. Nematodes,” according to the CDC....