Suspected spoiled moose meat a 'big blow': Nunatsiavut minister

Nunatsiavut's minister of lands and natural resources fears the meat of 18 moose bound for the Inuit government's community food-sharing programs in Labrador is "tainted."

"It's a fairly big blow … people rely on these community freezers quite often," said Darryl Shiwak.

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He said this year's "successful" harvest in Gros Morne National Park in Newfoundland resulted in 50 moose, but people complained of a foul smell after receiving and opening some of the vacuum-packed meat.

"We sent 32 moose to one [butcher] facility and 18 to another and it appears the 18 from one facility … we think has spoiled," Shiwak told CBC's Labrador Morning.

Shiwak alerted the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA), but the agency said the issue falls outside its jurisdiction. Shiwak said officials in Newfoundland and Labrador are investigating.

No answers yet

The minister said he doesn't know the potential cause of the problem or if all of the meat butchered at the facility is spoiled.

He doesn't name the two businesses which cut the meat, but said they use different packaging.

Shiwak said he stopped distribution of the suspect meat after discovering the problem.

"We'll wait and see, until the [CFIA] report comes back."

Shiwak insisted there is still a silver lining from this year's harvest.

"The good news is that we do have 32 good moose and we're informed that there is no reason that we cannot ship that up to the coast, so that is still a lot of moose we can get into the communities," he said.

Despite the incident, Shiwak believes the program is valuable.

"It's an initiative we need to continue if at all possible because it just brings so much into the communities, especially at this time of the year."

"We'll just have to make sure that in the future we're looking ahead and we're looking out for things that may happen, such as this."