The prions (abnormal proteins) that are the disease agents are not destroyed at normal cooking temperatures - the meat remains infectious. It has not been demonstrated that high temperatures have any effect on the prions. That said, most of the prions are found in the brain and spinal cord tissue. It is considered safe to consume meat from an infected animal, provided you avoid the infected areas. That said, the disease has so far proven to be 100% fatal, so a little caution should be exercised. It may be very difficult to become infected, but it has happened.

Prions are proteins which have folded improperly, and created rigid internal covalent bonds which make them extremely resistant to being denatured by heat or other chemicals. To give you an idea of just _how_ resistant, a typical protocol for cleaning lab equipment which has been used in prion research looks something like: 1) Thoroughly clean with detergent germicide. 2) Decontaminate initially using one of the following methods. • Autoclave at 134o C (272o F) in prevacuum sterilizer for 18 minutes or • Autoclave at 121oC (250oF) in gravity sterilizer for 60 minutes or • Immerse in 1 Normal Sodium Hydroxide (1N NaOH) for 60 minutes at room temperature. After 60 minutes, remove items from NaOH, rinse, and steam sterilize at 121oC (250oF) in gravity sterilizer for 30 minutes. 3) Following the process as selected from the above, prepare instruments in the usual fashion and sterilize for future use. And this is for stainless steel and glass... This combines steam autoclave, dry autoclave, and bleach, *in addition to* the normal cleaning procedures, because normal protocols and chemical cleaners are simply inadequate, and in some cases actually make these abnormal proteins MORE stable! Simply cooking them just doesn't cut it. Central nervous system tissue has the highest concentration of prions -- that is where they accumulate -- that is why that kind of tissue carries the most risk, and ordinary muscle meat less risk.