Caution: Warning About Game Meat from Hobby Hunters

More and more people are losing their appetite for game meat.

Editorial Team Wild beim Wild — 9. August 2025

There are several reasons why purchasing or consuming game meat from hobby hunters is inadvisable – and these are often related to health, environmental protection, and animal welfare.

In 99% of human history, meat was more of a supplement than a staple of the diet. Evolutionarily, we are not carnivores but have a distinctly plant-based disposition. A life imposed against one’s genetics, as well as against the signalling mechanisms of the informal network, has drawbacks and promotes disease.

The recreational hunters, however, struggle to correctly contextualise even the most basic natural and scientific relationships. Yet another indication that the so-called “Green Baccalaureate” is built on sectarian and unscientific foundations.

Sekte: Die Hobby-Jäger

Game meat can contain various biological and chemical hazards:

1. Health Risks

Parasites & Pathogens: Wild animals can carry trichinella, toxoplasma, salmonella, or other zoonoses (diseases transmissible to humans).
Heavy Metal Contamination: Particularly in game from regions where pollutant-laden or lead-based ammunition is used, the meat may contain lead, which is especially problematic for children and pregnant women.
No Veterinary Inspection: Unlike meat from livestock farming, freely hunted game is not examined for diseases in a slaughterhouse.
Game meat often contains high levels of purines, which is problematic for people suffering from gout.
Cholesterol levels are similar to those of other meats, but are relevant for individuals at risk of cardiovascular disease.
In reality game meat is frequently contaminated with ammunition residues, pathogens, or pollutants, posing health risks. Chronic lead ingestion can damage the nervous system, kidneys, cardiovascular system, and particularly brain development in children. The particles are often invisible to the naked eye and are not rendered harmless by cooking or freezing.
Wild boar in particular are frequently infected in Central Europe with pathogens that can be dangerous to humans.
Wild animals absorb PFAS, heavy metals (e.g. cadmium, mercury), or pesticide residues through plants, soils, and bodies of water. Animals from contaminated areas (near industrial sites or intensive agriculture) can have significantly elevated levels of harmful substances.
Game meat, is not genetically compatible with our original diet and increases the risk of cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, gout, and certain cancers.
Animal protein and certain fatty acids promote inflammatory processes in the body.
The high methionine and heme iron content in meat can accelerate aging processes and oxidative damage — an effect that is less pronounced with plant-based diets.
Our genes have adapted over millions of years to a diet consisting predominantly of plant-based components.

2. Environmental Protection & Biodiversity

Illegal hunting/poaching: In many countries, the sale of game meat is associated with poaching, which endangers threatened species.
Ecological imbalances: Excessive recreational hunting can severely decimate local populations and disrupt the balance of ecosystems.

3. Ethical and Legal Aspects

Unclear origin: Particularly with game meat from hobby hunters or from abroad, it is often impossible to trace where and how the animal was killed.
Animal suffering: Hunting methods (traps, gunshots, packs of hounds) can be very painful and prolonged for animals, which also enriches the meat with additional harmful substances.
Mislabelling Sometimes meat is incorrectly labelled or not labelled at all, leading to deception and risks for allergy sufferers or people with special dietary needs. In Switzerland, such incidents occur regularly, particularly in hobby hunter circles.

Common Risks in Game Meat

1. Pathogens

Disease	Pathogen	Route of transmission	Consequences for humans
Trichinellosis	Roundworms (Trichinella)	Consumption of insufficiently heated meat	Fever, muscle pain, severe inflammation
Toxoplasmosis	Toxoplasma gondii (parasite)	Meat, contact with animal blood	Risk for pregnant women (malformations), flu-like symptoms
Salmonellosis	Salmonella bacteria	Meat, cross-contamination in the kitchen	Diarrhea, fever, abdominal cramps
Echinococcosis	Fox tapeworm	Contact during gutting/raw meat	Severe liver damage, often undetected for years
Brucellosis	Brucella bacteria	Contact or consumption	Fever, joint pain, organ damage
Rabies	Rabies virus	Contact with infected animal (bite, blood)	Almost always fatal without rapid vaccination

2. Chemical Contaminants

Substance	Source	Health hazard
Lead	Lead-based hunting ammunition	Nerve damage, anemia, developmental disorders in children
Cadmium	Environmental pollution (soil, plants)	Kidney damage, bone damage
Mercury	Food chain (fish-eating animals)	Nervous system damage
Pesticide residues	Via contaminated plants	Hormonal disruption, cancer risk (with chronic exposure)

3. Further Risks

Misidentification of species (e.g. protected animal sold as “wild boar”)
Inadequate cold chain → rapid multiplication of bacteria
Insufficient cooking → parasites and bacteria survive

What do the authorities say about game meat?

Processed game meat (red meat) is carcinogenic like cigarettes, asbestos or arsenic, states the WHO.

Among game enthusiasts, such as hobbyhunters and their families, studies from Switzerland show that these households consume up to 90 portions of game meat per year. The Federal Food Safety Authority considers the situation of hobby hunters and families who eat game meat once or more per week to be a cause for concern.

While copper and zinc are essential for humans, lead is considered highly toxic. Authorities have therefore been advising children, pregnant women and women wishing to become pregnant for years to refrain from consuming meat from game killed with lead ammunition.

According to the University Hospital Bonn, cases of hepatitis E are increasing at an alarming rate. One way of becoming infected is by consuming raw or undercooked game meat. “Since this infection generally follows a harmless course, the health risk posed by the hepatitis E virus (HEV) has so far been underestimated,” warns gastroenterologist Prof. Christian Strassburg of the University Hospital Bonn. In people with severely weakened immune systems, the liver inflammation can become chronic and progress to cirrhosis. In pregnant women, there is a risk of acute, life-threatening liver failure. In both cases, a liver transplant is often the only remaining option.

With game meat obtained directly from hobby hunters, the cold chain is often a critical point – particularly because conditions in the forest or field are not comparable to those in a slaughterhouse.

The Cold Chain

1. Immediately After the Kill

Rapid field dressing (evisceration) is crucial – and often not possible – to prevent the proliferation of germs.
Clean working conditions are frequently difficult to maintain – there is no sterile environment, only soil, leaves, insects, and the elements.
The core temperature of the meat must be reduced as quickly as possible in order to slow the growth of bacteria such as Salmonella or E. coli.
Legally required (in the EU): cooling to a maximum of +7 °C for furred game (roe deer, wild boar) and a maximum of +4 °C for feathered game – as quickly as possible.

2. Transport

Professional hunters or game dealers use refrigerated vehicles or game coolers.
Many hobby hunters, however, initially transport the game without active refrigeration – often simply in the boot of the car or directly near the vehicle’s exhaust pipe.

An orange SUV with a red game trailer on the back is parked on a dirt track.

3. Storage by Hobby Hunters

By law, only hobby hunters with the relevant hygiene certification are permitted to store game meat for sale.
Ideally, this takes place in a game refrigerator or cold room with a temperature log.
Problem: Some sell or give away meat directly after butchering, without it ever having been stored under controlled refrigeration.

4. Risks of a Broken Cold Chain

Bacterial growth: Even a few hours at temperatures above 7 °C can dramatically increase bacterial counts.
Reduced shelf life: Even frozen game meat spoils more quickly if it was stored at warm temperatures before freezing.
Loss of flavour: Bacterial decomposition causes off-odours to develop more rapidly.

The IG Wild beim Wild warns against game meat because it views it as the product of a system that is a health risk, ecologically questionable, and ethically problematic. It also undermines biodiversity, nature conservation, and species protection. The overconsumption of meat is driving up health insurance premiums.

For over 99% of human history, the diet was predominantly plant-based: fruits, nuts, tubers, seeds, leaves. Accordingly, we do not have teeth like a wolf or lion. We have molars, intestines, stomach acid, enzymes, a digestive system, etc. designed for breaking down plants, and not the pure tearing teeth of predators. Isotope analyses show: in most Stone Age communities, the majority of calories came from plants.

Diagram on the nutritional evolution of humans, showing the shift from plant-based to meat-based diets over millions of years.

Most importantly, however, dishes made from dead wild animals require spices and days of marinating — after all, who wants the taste of carrion to come through? You are, by the way, not eating something, but someone.

Added value: