ABSTRACT
Venison is a popular game meat in the United States, Central Europe (McCormick, 2003), and United Kingdom (Richards et al., 2011). Consumers
are attracted to its tender, low fat content (but favorable fat composition) and high levels of minerals. Deer can be wild, kept in parks, or farmed. Although various species of deer are farmed in different parts of the world, the highest number species of farmed deer are red deer (Cervus elaphus scoticus), elk (Cervus elaphus nelsoni), and fallow deer (Dama dama). In Nordic countries, herding of reindeer are carried out (Hoffman and Wiklund, 2006). Wild deer are usually shot through the chest to enable rapid death, thus minimizing stress and avoiding carcass contamination (Ramanzin et al., 2010). Some hunters prefer to aim for the head or neck to prevent damage to the carcass (Hoffman and Wiklund, 2006; Urquhart and McKendrick, 2006). If the gut is damaged during shooting, this will cause rapid microbial contamination of the carcass (Atanassova et al., 2008; Gill, 2007).
