# Beef Heart and Parasites



## SpooOwner (Oct 1, 2010)

Sometimes Mia doesn't finish all of the beef heart I give her, and it sits outside in the yard for a while. When I come back to pick it up, sometimes the heart is covered in what looks like tiny white grains of rice.

Are these heartworms? Some sort of larvae? And should I be concerned?


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## pandaparade (Dec 29, 2010)

Cows can in fact get heartworm, but, I would hope that you couldn't get it if consumed raw? I am wondering about this as well now!


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## eternalstudent (Jul 22, 2010)

Most likely these are fly lave, if you left it long enough they would turn into maggots.

Not nice but not harmful either


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## pandaparade (Dec 29, 2010)

ewwwwww


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## whiteleo (Sep 7, 2008)

Gee, ick! So glad my dogs get fed inside and gobble up as fast as I put it down.


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## Tobi (Mar 18, 2011)

I would think they were tapeworms... These are one of the few internal parasites that can be seen without the use of a microscope. They resemble grains of rice or sesame seeds, Beef generally carry Taenia saginata.

Tapeworms are made of segments as well, each segment can lay eggs if i understand it correctly, it could be they get broken up and then look like larvae








.


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## Savage Destiny (Mar 16, 2011)

Tobi, tapeworms wouldn't show up in a heart I wouldn't think. They're intestinal parasites, and the segments pass out of the body with stool. Unless something came and pooped on the heart, I wouldn't expect the things on it to be tapeworm segments.


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## DaneMama (Jun 27, 2008)

They are most definitely fly larvae. It doesn't take long for flies to lay their larvae in meat sitting out, maybe a few hours at most. They are harmless...just a little added protein if you can get past the ick factor LOL

Tapeworms are an I intestinal tract parasite that wouldn't be found in the heart. Heart worms live inside the heart when they are fully mature which takes months. Before heartworms are fully mature they are microscopic larvae that really can't be seen with the naked eye, and again those are found within the bloodstream.


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## Tobi (Mar 18, 2011)

Savage Destiny said:


> Tobi, tapeworms wouldn't show up in a heart I wouldn't think. They're intestinal parasites, and the segments pass out of the body with stool. Unless something came and pooped on the heart, I wouldn't expect the things on it to be tapeworm segments.


That isn't entirely true, there are different variations and subspecies of the tapeworm, here for example is a small published article about findings in cattle.

Minute dissection of carcasses infected with Taenia saginata cysts revealed that heart and masticatory muscles were more heavily and more frequently infected with Taenia saginata cysts than were any other muscle groups. Increasing the number of inspection cuts in the heart and masseter muscles, while omitting cuts in such sites as the diaphragm, during meat inspection would increase the efficiency in detecting beef cysticercosis. Complete dissection of cattle found to have a single viable or dead cyst by routine inspection revealed dead or viable cysts in portions of the carcass not routinely examined. These findings justify the recent change in routine meat inspection procedures whereby all carcasses with a single cyst (whether viable or dead) are now cooked or refrigerated, instead of having the offending cysts excised.

SourceTaenia saginata cysticerci in muscles of beef catt... [Am J Vet Res. 1976] - PubMed result


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## DaneMama (Jun 27, 2008)

Tobi you are correct in that the _Taenia spp._ do migrate outside the intestinal tract. But the cysts they mention wouldn't contain a parasite like you posted above. A cyst is a microscopic larval worm that is surrounded by inflammatory tissue.


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## Tobi (Mar 18, 2011)

DaneMama said:


> Tobi you are correct in that the _Taenia spp._ do migrate outside the intestinal tract. But the cysts they mention wouldn't contain a parasite like you posted above. A cyst is a microscopic larval worm that is surrounded by inflammatory tissue.


oh okay, I was actually under the impression as i had read about this months ago that they could be still in the heart if it was "fresh" we have always frozen our hearts and not found anything like this and i did s thorough dissection of the first one we got from our supplier to be sure :lol: thank you for informing me


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## DaneMama (Jun 27, 2008)

The cysts can be seen but the worms themselves can't (at least from what I remember from parasitology class in undergrad...).


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## 3Musketeers (Nov 4, 2010)

Maggots, totally harmless, albeit terribly smelly and disgusting. I've had some growing in my garbage after throwing uncleaned baggies from meats in there. I learned the hard way, trying to trace the terribly foul smell in my kitchen, only to see icky-looking living rice grains crawling all over the inside of the trash bag.


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## SpooOwner (Oct 1, 2010)

Phew. Good to have my hopes confirmed, and not my fears (if one can _hope_ for maggots).


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## SpooOwner (Oct 1, 2010)

OK, I have to ask this again. These white rice-like things do not move and only appear on the beef heart I feed. They have never appeared on any other form of meat. Maggots, on the other hand, are wormy little creepy crawly things that definitely appear on some of the other meats, though it usually takes 1+ days. Are y'all totally sure these are the same things?


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## RawFedDogs (Jun 16, 2008)

I have never seen anything like that on any of the beef hearts I have fed and I've fed a ton of them. I can't disagree with what the others have said though.


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## SpooOwner (Oct 1, 2010)

I took a look at a bunch of photos, and I think they are fly eggs. Pre-larval stage. It's really weird that they only form on beef heart. So strange. And gross.


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## Caty M (Aug 13, 2010)

Ewww if I found maggots in my kitchen I'd leave the house and refuse to come in. I'd call my boyfriend and he would have to come home from work to hose the entire kitchen down... ;-) ... that is if I didn't pass out first.

Seriously. I am terrible with bugs. I've always wanted to get a bearded dragon but I can't because there is no way I'd be able to feed it anything resembling a natural diet. 

Yet I have no problem cutting up bunnies to feed to my dog. LOL. I find it fascinating.


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## DaneMama (Jun 27, 2008)

Sounds like you've got some picky flies if they only lay their eggs on beef heart LOL


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## magicre (Apr 7, 2010)

pandaparade said:


> ewwwwww


it's protein LOL


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## magicre (Apr 7, 2010)

i have seen this on chickens i bought.

when i took the wrapping off, they were there.

suffice it to say, cooking tray and chickens were returned to the store that day.


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## Tobi (Mar 18, 2011)

magicre said:


> it's protein LOL


I'd have to agree, I would just feed it if I knew without a shadow of a doubt it was just maggots or larvae :lol: I'm sure Tobi would very much enjoy the extra sprinkles too!


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## magicre (Apr 7, 2010)

Tobi said:


> I'd have to agree, I would just feed it if I knew without a shadow of a doubt it was just maggots or larvae :lol: I'm sure Tobi would very much enjoy the extra sprinkles too!


LOL...i didn't say i would feed it....although i'm sure the dogs wouldn't mind....

but...blech.....from a human point of view, it's going into the trash for sure


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## luvMyBRT (Mar 8, 2010)

magicre said:


> LOL...i didn't say i would feed it....although i'm sure the dogs wouldn't mind....


I wonder if they're low purine...??? :laugh::laugh::laugh:


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