There is a rather bizarre health department case out of Los Angeles where inspectors, responding to a call from a customer, found Metro Supermarket in Temple City selling prepackaged raccoons in the frozen food section. The raccoons were sold for Chinese customers who have a special hankering for the animals. It turns out that raccoons sell for $9.99 per pound at Metro Supermarket.
We have seen restaurants serve road kill but they do not openly market it as roadkill du jour.
Strangely, the span tag on the bag listed the raccoon as from the “Fish Department.”
Customer Christina Dow spotted the surprising item at the market and was a bit shocked to see a raccoon with its tongue out and teeth. Now here is the most surprising element. She indicated that she was told that selling raccoons as food may indeed be perfectly legal. Really? What is the source for raccoons and conditions for their slaughter and preparation? Are there regulations on the proper packaging of raccoons?
The store says that it has been selling raccoons for years. The supermarket can claim that raccoons are a “game meat” but that still requires showings of the source and properly permitted hunters. For the moment, the Department removed the store’s supply of frozen raccoons.
Source: CBS
Nick-
I probably deserve game misconduct penalties for some of my puns. Example: What is so special about the year 1930? It is the year in which the first all-white Dalmation dog was spotted.
Don de Drain. 5 minute major penalty for lame pun. To the penalty box, young man.
“Critter du Jour.” Larry, brother Darryl, and other brother, Darryl. Newhart Show[the second one, not the better first one].
Eating raccoon with feet on them gives me paws.
Mark
They’re free if you run over them.
Wow! Are they free-range?
Why, Darren, that’s racist!
… not sure how yet but I’ll figure something profitable out.
Raccoon: The other white meat.
Yeah, I even like Boone’s Farm wine many years ago.
Paul
As far as I am concerned Daniel Boone was an environmentalist, ecologically correct, someone that consumed and used all parts of the animal, and would never eat frozen foods. He was much closer to the indigenous people he sometimes waxed, but didn’t consume. He also liked his wine, owned a winery and a hotel in Santa Barbara. He was a nice mix of environmentalism and capitalism.
Daniel Boone. Hell, the Clampett’s ate raccoon, possum, squirrel, etc. all around the “fancy eatin’ table” after swimming in “the cement pond.”
If it was good enough for Daniel Boone, then WTF?
issac – did Dan’l Boone eat ’em or just wear the pelt on his head?
My family loved to camp. I did it to be a team player, it was not my cup o’ tea. Raccoons are always a problem in the upper Midwest when camping. And, they are incredible thieves. Did you know they can easily get into Tupperware? We learned that when a fellow camper brought a gourmet torte in Tupperware. The raccoons LOVED IT! So, it is karma that people are eating those thieving b@stards. Have their chefs come to Wisconsin, and just about any US state, there are plenty. Kill and eat as many as you wish!
“What is the source for raccoons and conditions for their slaughter and preparation?”
That’s a city folk question.
Answer: Somebody kilt it.
There’s also a nice raccoon fur coat priced at $1500.00.
What better way to warm up on cold winters day. Raccoon soup du jour and a nice warm raccoon fur coat.
I’ve seen racoon served in bars, usually stewed in a crock pot with slices of bread on top to collect the abundant grease. Like when the same bars serve Rocky Mountain Oysters, there is usually no charge for the dish and itis well labeled as to what it is. I know quite a few people that hunt and eat raccoon, so this doesn’t seem all that strange to me. I see other game meats in supermarkets all the time. Why not raccoon?
My buddy’s dad used to take racoons to the local barbecue. The owner thought they looked too much like cats so he said “From now on leave the feets on so nobody thinks I’m bbqing cats again” (sic). He always skinned the racoons but left “the feets” on. This was in Peoria and those dudes can really bbq but I thought the racoon was horrible.
Now I’m going to have to check my local H-Mart (in Merrifield, VA). They have pretty much everything else. Why not raccoon?
I’ve had BBQ racoon, it was really good and was like beef BBQ.
Raccoon is not to my taste, but Rocky Mountain Oysters do not appear on my menu either. However, they are staples in Montana after spring branding.