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Comment by ChuckMcM | Hacker News Reader

They are quite the nuisance in parts of California. If you're hiking, adding feral pig encounter to the existing mountain lion or bear encounter, can be overwhelming.

I found it interesting how hunting backfires (scatters them and increases their range) as it seems to be always pounded into me "hunted out of existence" was a common thing that hunters would do if left to their own devices (I know, there is a LOT of propaganda in this space!) That said, I'm surprised there are not more trapping & slaughtering programs in place.

The engineer in me wants to slaughter the pigs, use the cesium capsules at Hanford to irradiate/sterilize the meat of all bacteria and parasites, and then turn it into free bacon and/or jerky for whomever needs it. Impractical for sure but free bacon right?

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It seems you might be aware of this already, but irradiation of pork to kill parasites is an established practice in the food industry. Food irradiation in general is safe and effective, but weirds a lot of the general public out (particularly those with low scientific literacy. Irradiated food doesn't become radioactive!) There may be something to be said about the hazards of handling a gamma source like Cs-137 safetly and making sure nobody drops it in the city dump or steals a truck carrying it, but X-ray and electron beam irradiation don't have these drawbacks. Many people today eat irradiated food without ever realizing it, though if they did realize it they might balk.

I was under the impression that Cobalt-60 was more common for food irradiation (it's not soluble in water and has a shorter half-life, so less potential eco-impact). But, yeah, food irradiation is a really common process with few downsides once you get past the whole "made in a reactor" part.

AFAIK both Cobalt-60 and Cesium-137 are used as gamma sources for food irradiation, though Cobalt is more common.

I find that reading about nuclear accidents actually helps here. Assuming you’re not standing next to something unbelievably “hot” (don’t do that!), the main issue is the dust that tends to settle onto everything and keep irradiating you. So radiated food is fine, but food that’s been coated in radioactive dust is emphatically not fine.

Dumb question, doesn't cooking also kill parasites just as effectively?

A lot of cooking styles do not throughly and consistently heat all food to the required temperature for the required time to be 100% safe. And if you try to cook for extra time just to be safe, you end up drying out the meat a lot.

That's where souc vide helps. You don't dry out the food (due to the containment in the bag) and you can keep the food in the required temperature range for plenty of time (because the immersion circulator keeps the water bath at a constant temperature range).

If properly cooked it should kill parasites and pathogens.

Food irradiation is relevant for other types of food too, including the ones we don't normally cook, such as fruits.

> Dumb question, doesn't cooking also kill parasites just as effectively?

Technically yes, but how many households typically have a (meat) thermometer? A lot of people go by the "not pink" or "clear juices" rules of thumb, which work well enough for typical grocery store 'industrial' packaged meat, but may not be good enough for more 'uncontrolled' meat.

A 6.5- to 7.0-log_10 reduction in pathogens (salmonella) is generally hit at 158F/70C (with beef) where there is 'instantaneous' destruction of the pathogen(s), but lower temperatures can also be reached as long as they are held for longer periods of time, e.g., 140F/60C for 12 minutes. Poultry has slightly different numbers, also dependent on the fat content, but a similar principal of a time/temperature 'curve'. Ditto for fish†, pork, etc.

If you mess up the temperature you can have a really bad day.

† And the type of fish can mean different temperatures. The fat content of wild versus farmed salmon means few degrees' difference could result in a dry versus juicy result:

* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WSGjYMHF60

Cooking will kill parasites/microbes but won't necessarily denature the poisonous byproducts of their metabolism. Irradiating as close to time of butchery minimizes the amount of time the critters can excrete their grossness into the food.

Trichinosis is always a problem to watch

> Food irradiation in general is safe and effective, but weirds a lot of the general public out (particularly those with low scientific literacy. Irradiated food doesn't become radioactive!)

Frankly, if labeling was available I would actively seek out irradiated food (specifically bread and fruits). This would be great to reduce food waste due to spoilage and pathogen risks (either from spoilage or otherwise present in the food).

I suspect most(if not all) of the "unprocessed" food I eat has not been irradiated.

This logo is meant to be such labelling: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_irradiation#/media/File... I'm not sure how widespread use of it is though.

In all practicality, you wouldn't care to consume wild boar due to boar taint[1].

It's disgusting to everyone, but women are particularly sensitive to the male sex hormone and tend to find it highly unpalatable.

There's a reason why boars are used historically to represent especially unpleasant or revolting men.

[1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boar_taint

Ewww, but okay. I wonder what the sex ratio is of wild pigs.

Thanks for that link tho, learn something new every day.

Surely we'll find something that eats it, and then eat that?

Make pet food out of it.

The better solution to control them, whereas cleaning parasites at the same time, is clearly stablished and available. Research found that wolves yearly diet is composed of 80% of wild boar in some areas of Europe.

It's commonly eaten in Europe (as commonly as any other game meat, anyway). By both men and women. It's not disgusting at all.

Wild Boar meat is eaten in the US as well but a) almost always you’d prefer juvenile boar and b) boar taint is undetectable to many people.

I for one don’t have a problem but my wife is repulsed by it. Also it’s not “gamey” it’s a different flavor profile.

I wouldn't place too much weight on boar taint.

While a real and recognized phenomenon, it isn't common or universal. I haven't ever noticed it in wild boar and have not heard of it from any other hunters. Internet forums of full of hunters arguing over if it exists at all.

I imagine there's also some selection going on with people (primarily men) who cannot detect it or find it inoffensive and people who hunt boars and post about it on the internet.

I don't hunt boar because I don't like eating it, at least.

The generation of my grandfather taught me to cut off the "Klöten" (testicles) right after his death in order to prevent boar taint.

There's a collection of stories by Skeeter Skelton (Good Friends, Good Guns, Good Whiskey) some of which discuss the hunting of wild boar in Texas.

In several of the stories there are recipes and methods of cooking the meat that make it palatable.

> I found it interesting how hunting backfires (scatters them and increases their range)

You missed one of the bigger reason it backfire... people enjoy hunting them, which has made it a fairly lucrative industry in some areas.

Therefore it's actually become against some people's interests to fully eradicate them.

I ran into 3 feral pigs on a walk in San Jose last weekend. They were pretty chill, though, rooting around and ignoring everyone 10 feet away from them on the path.

You should use extreme caution around feral hogs. You could easily be gored or killed. A full grown feral hog can easily weigh. 3-900lbs. Imagine getting hit by an entire football team running at full speed. Or a small car with two knives strapped to the front.

Edit: A woman was killed this year by feral hogs: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/26/us/texas-woman-killed-fer... . Attacks that result in death are unusual but you don't want to be in that position.

> It was only the fifth documented fatal wild hog attack in the country since 1825.

Welllllll those odds aren't terrible

Chill, unless they nick your underwear while you're taking a nude sunbath: https://twitter.com/gonch145/status/1291439982230593536

> it seems to be always pounded into me "hunted out of existence" was a common thing that hunters would do if left to their own devices

Haha yeah, people say that, but recreational hunters typically have a vested interest in maintaining something to hunt...

I say that as a recreational hunter - I started hunting after encountering starving deer in very poor condition in eaten out forest, they had even eaten all the mountain beech seedlings[1] which is a sure sign of desperation. And an obvious part of population control is shooting the hinds...

...which makes me somewhat unpopular with other recreational hunters. Although trophy hunters, at least, realise that lower populations lead to better antlers due to better nutrition for an individual animal.

[1]: Not a real beech - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nothofagus_solandri_var._cliff...

The relationship between hunters, the state, and conservation are very complex. It doesn’t help that hunting tends to generate strong emotions in people.

You could just cook the meat right? Why irradiate it?

Well if you were making jerky the salting process might not kill all the parasites. But it was more a nod to the story that came across HN a few days ago about Hanford having all this Cesium around that they weren't using. And it is in Washington state (a state with a pig problem) and the engineer in me likes the synergy of turning two problems into a public good.

Ah, I missed that reference. I would be down to try free nuclear jerky.

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