Game meat in Switzerland

In Switzerland, game meat is readily advertised as “natural”, “regional” and “animal-friendly”. That sounds like premium quality, organic and a clear conscience. The reality is more sobering: around two-thirds of the game meat consumed in Switzerland is imported, mainly from Austria, Slovenia, Germany and New Zealand. What is sold as “Swiss game” statistically does not, for the most part, come from Swiss forests. According to current industry data, the domestic share stands at just 38.4 per cent, and a significant part of that comes from enclosures, not from free-ranging recreational hunting.

On top of this, game meat is not a standardised, consistently controlled product like slaughterhouse meat. It emerges from a chain that is hard to monitor: shot, follow-up search, recovery, field dressing, transport, cooling, butchering. It is precisely in this chain that the risks lie: lead from hunting ammunition, parasites, germs, variable hygiene and a cold chain that depends on weather, terrain, experience and time pressure. Authorities issue warnings. Studies document the risks. The lobby keeps quiet about them.

This dossier shows what consumers rarely hear but should know. It is not aimed against people who eat game; it is aimed against nature romanticism being used as a substitute for consumer protection. You can find further background on recreational hunting in our hunting dossier.

What awaits you here

What game meat really is and where it comes from: Why “regional” is not a health label, what the difference between slaughterhouse meat and game meat means structurally, and why two-thirds of Swiss game meat consumption comes from abroad.
The core issue: lead in game meat: What the FSVO, BfR and EFSA say about lead ammunition and game meat, which population groups are particularly at risk, and why the problem is systemic and cannot be solved by a “clean kitchen”.
The processing chain: where risks arise: What happens after the shot, why field dressing, recovery, cooling and butchering affect food safety more strongly than with slaughterhouse meat, and which factors are particularly critical.
Parasites and germs: game is not automatically clean: What trichinellosis means in wild boars, which legal inspection obligations exist, and why they have gaps in practice.
«Organic game» is a marketing myth: Why organic does not mean the same as inspected, and what the lack of certification concretely means for consumers.
Animal welfare: why «living free» does not solve the problem: What missed shots, stress, follow-up searches and orphaned young animals mean for the argument «better than factory farming».
Type of hunt and meat quality: Why drive hunts and driven hunts measurably affect meat quality, what stress hormones in muscle meat mean, and how the placement of the shot determines the hygiene of processing.
Canada as a comparison: Why game from recreational hunting may not be sold in large parts of Canada, and what that says about consumer protection standards.
What consumers should ask: The decisive questions before buying or eating game meat.
What would need to change: Concrete political demands.
Argumentation guide: Answers to the most common justifications offered by the game meat lobby.
Quick links: All relevant articles, studies and dossiers.

What game meat really is and where it comes from

«Game meat» refers to meat from wild animals: roe deer, red deer, chamois, wild boar, brown hare, wild birds. What distinguishes this term from slaughter meat is crucial: the animal is not killed in a standardised, state-controlled abattoir. It is shot outdoors, under real-world conditions that vary widely. Weather, time pressure, experience, equipment and terrain determine how quickly and cleanly processing proceeds.

This has direct consequences for consumer protection and food safety. With slaughter meat, killing, initial handling, hygiene, cooling and documentation are standardised and monitored. With game, the variation in each of these points is greater. This is not scaremongering; it is the structural reality of a foodstuff whose production chain begins in the forest and whose quality depends on the decision of a single recreational hunter on a single evening.

On top of that, anyone who buys “Swiss game” is mostly not buying from Swiss forests. Around two-thirds of the game meat consumed in Switzerland is imported. According to current industry data from the Swiss farming press, the main supplier countries are Austria, Germany, Slovenia and New Zealand. The domestic share in 2022/2023 stood at around 38.4 per cent, a record high after years of growth, which shows how dominant imports have remained to this day. Swiss game is a rare commodity that is marketed as “regional” in seasonal communications, but it does not fill the shelves of the retail trade. “Regional” is not a hygiene or health label. It is a marketing promise.

More on this: Hunting in Switzerland: figures, systems, and the end of a narrative and Hunting myths: 12 claims you should scrutinise critically

Lead in game meat: the officially recognised problem

The Federal Food Safety and Veterinary Office (FSVO) is clear in its recommendation: children up to the age of seven, pregnant and breastfeeding women, and women planning a pregnancy should avoid, as far as possible, eating game killed with lead ammunition. This is not a recommendation from a hunting-critical organisation. It is an official recommendation based on measurable findings.

The German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) shares this assessment and backs it up with studies showing that lead bullets can fragment, particles can remain in the meat, and some of them are not visible. A PLOS ONE study concludes that people who eat game killed with lead-containing ammunition demonstrably absorb lead from fragments, with a measurable effect on blood lead levels, particularly among heavy consumers, children and pregnant women. In 2025, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), in a comprehensive report on lead exposure in the European population, confirmed game meat as a relevant source of exposure, especially for recreational hunter families. Lead is toxic to the human body in any quantity: it damages blood formation, the liver, the kidneys and the central nervous system, and in children it has proven effects on brain development.

The core problem is systemic: it arises from hunting technique, not from faulty cooking. Lead-containing bullets fragment on impact. Particles spread through the meat in a radius around the wound channel that cannot be fully seen with the naked eye. Generous trimming around the bullet channel reduces the contamination but does not eliminate it. And although Switzerland banned lead-containing bullet ammunition from calibre 6 mm upwards with the Hunting Ordinance of 1 February 2025 (Art. 2 para. 1 let. n JSV), the transitional provision keeps it permitted until 31 December 2029. In the canton of Bern the ban already applies from 1 August 2027, in Grisons it has applied to the high hunt since 2021. In most cantons, lead-containing bullet ammunition therefore remains legal until the end of 2029, and lead shot, except for waterfowl hunting, even indefinitely – and the risk for consumers is real.

More on this: Lead ammunition and environmental toxins from recreational hunting and Lead residues in game meat products

The processing chain: where risks arise

After death, autolysis begins: the body's own enzymes break down tissue. At the same time, germs multiply. The warmer it is and the longer it takes until the animal is properly handled and cooled, the stronger these processes become. With slaughtered meat, this period is limited to minutes and takes place under controlled conditions. With game, it often takes hours: in the open, at variable temperatures, under variable hygiene conditions.

Typical risk factors in hunting practice: recovering the animal in rough terrain takes longer than planned. Contact with flies, dirt, fur, ground and equipment increases contamination risks. With gut shots, intestinal contents can leak; the speed and care of field dressing then determine bacterial load and eating quality. Stomach-and-intestine hits, late recovery, warm autumn weather, unclean field dressing and transport without a functioning cold chain are not rare exceptions but typical hunting-practice risk factors that occur regularly in the everyday reality of recreational hunting without fixed standards. A study in the journal Meat Science examined surface bacterial counts on game carcasses after field dressing and found considerable variance, depending on dressing hygiene, weather conditions and the experience of the recreational hunter.

What this means for consumers: the food safety of game meat depends far more on individual practice than that of standardised slaughter. This is structurally unavoidable as long as the processing chain begins in the forest and operates without uniform, independently monitored standards.

More on this: Game meat from recreational hunters is carrion and Warning: caution advised on game meat from recreational hunters

Parasites and germs: wild does not automatically mean clean

In wild boars, the risk of trichinae plays a particular role. Trichinella is a roundworm that embeds itself in muscle tissue and can cause serious illness in humans. The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) documents cases of trichinellosis in Europe every year, with wild boar meat being the most common source of infection.

In Switzerland, all wild boars that are killed and intended to be placed on the market must be tested for trichinae in accordance with the Animal Diseases Ordinance and the Ordinance on Foodstuffs and Utility Articles. The only exception is game meat intended exclusively for personal consumption and not placed on the market. This means that anyone who receives wild boar meat from a recreational hunter as a "gift" (without trichinae inspection) is eating uncontrolled meat. This practice is widespread in Switzerland and difficult to monitor. For game in general, STEC bacteria (Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli) can also be detected in game meat. In 2020, Food Standards Scotland examined the risk of STEC contamination in game meat and classed it as relevant, particularly where hygiene during field dressing is inadequate.

More on this: Game meat makes you sick and According to studies, there are health risks associated with eating game meat

"Organic game" is a marketing myth

"Organic" means defined standards, documented farm inspections and certified production chains. Game meat meets none of these requirements, by definition. The animal lived freely: that is true. But a free life is not a quality certificate. Lebensmittelklarheit.de states unequivocally: "Meat from wild animals is not organic game." An animal that lives in the forest also absorbs pollutants there: via soil, water and food plants contaminated with pesticides, heavy metals and other environmental contaminants. Wild boars accumulate pollutants in particular because they feed close to the ground and are omnivorous.

“Regional” is likewise not a term of food quality. It describes origin, not hygiene, not contaminant load, not processing quality. Equating “regional” with “safe” and “healthy” is a rhetorical sleight of hand that serves marketing interests, not consumer protection. Anyone who wants to communicate seriously about game meat talks about verifiable criteria: type of ammunition, cooling time, hygiene documentation, trichinella testing, contaminant load. The recreational hunting lobby structurally does not do this.

More on this: Game meat cannot be BIO and The media and hunting issues: how language, images and «experts» shape the debate

Animal welfare: why “free-living” does not solve the problem

The strongest argument of the game meat lobby is: “Better than factory farming.” This comparison shifts the moral question but does not resolve it. For even with game meat, death is not automatically instant and not automatically painless.

Missed kills (hits that do not kill immediately) are structurally unavoidable. There are no reliable Swiss statistics on how many animals are wounded without ever being found. What exists are estimates from practice and the fact that tracking-dog work (the follow-up search with scent dogs) is an integral part of the Swiss hunting system precisely because it is regularly needed. Wild animals may die after minutes or hours in pain and stress, in the forest, alone, with no human to accompany them. Measurable stress hormones in the meat of killed animals show that this dying process is physiologically anything but neutral. Killing does not become “animal-friendly” simply because it happens in the forest. It merely becomes less predictable.

More on this: Wild animals, mortal fear and lack of stunning: why animal welfare law ends at the forest edge and Hunting and Animal Welfare: What the Practice Does to Wild Animals

Hunting method and meat quality: what the research shows

The hunting method is not a detail; it is a key factor in meat quality. Research on quality parameters in game animals shows measurable differences depending on the form of hunting.

During driven hunts (drive hunts), wild animals are subjected to considerable stress before the shot: flight, pressure from dogs, prolonged exertion. Stress affects muscle metabolism: the pH of the meat falls differently, water-holding capacity changes, and oxidation processes accelerate. This has measurable effects on tenderness, shelf life and hygiene risk. A study on surface bacterial counts on carcasses after field dressing confirms that the location of the hit and the pattern of contamination are directly linked; abdominal shots significantly increase the risk of bacterial contamination from gut contents.

The time between the shot and death is also not merely an animal welfare issue but a quality factor. Studies show links between a prolonged dying phase and elevated stress hormone levels in the tissue. This means that game meat from drive hunts is statistically more likely to show poorer meat quality parameters than game from quiet hunting from a high seat. Anyone selling game meat should communicate this transparently, but as a rule they do not.

More on this: Driven Hunt in Switzerland and The psychology of hunting

Canada as a comparison: why game from recreational hunters often may not be sold

In many Canadian provinces, the commercial sale of game meat from recreational hunting is heavily restricted or prohibited. In Ontario, wild-killed meat may not, in principle, be sold or served in restaurants, which explains why “game” on Canadian menus often actually means farmed game.

The reasoning is clear: game meat from recreational hunting structurally fails to meet the requirements for control, traceability and official inspection. Uninspected, unstandardised meat is considered too risky for public sale. There is also the matter of protection against poaching: if game could be sold commercially, incentives for illegal killing would arise. Canada has opted for strict control, for reasons of consumer protection and nature conservation alike. Swiss consumers do not have this protection. In Switzerland, a recreational hunter may pass game meat directly to private individuals and, to a limited extent, to the catering trade and retailers, with little transparency, little documentation and no official inspection of the processing chain.

More on this: Hunting laws and oversight: why self-supervision is not enough and Hunting ban in Switzerland: possibilities, models and limits

What consumers should ask

If you are offered or served game meat, these are the key questions:

Ammunition: Lead-free or lead-containing ammunition? Without this information, the lead exposure cannot be assessed.
Time until cooling: How long after the shot until cooling? More than two hours at temperatures above ten degrees is critical.
Butchering: Who did the butchering? Under what hygienic conditions? With what documentation?
Species: Wild boar has to be assessed differently from roe deer. Can a trichinella inspection be proven?
For whom: Children up to seven years of age, pregnant and breastfeeding women, women planning a pregnancy: observe the FSVO recommendation, especially where the type of ammunition is unknown.
Origin: Imported or from Swiss recreational hunting? From an enclosure or from the wild?

Anyone who does not receive clear answers to these questions is buying an unknown quantity, not a natural experience.

More on this: Game meat: natural, healthy or dangerous? and Dementia: how harmful is game meat?

What needs to change

Mandatory declaration of the type of ammunition: Anyone selling game meat or offering it in catering must be required to state whether the animal was killed with lead-free or lead-containing ammunition. This information is vital for the FSVO risk groups and is systematically missing today.
Immediate lead ban across the whole of Switzerland, not only from 2030: The canton of Bern has shown that 2027 is possible. Lead-free ammunition is available and proven. Postponing the ban to 2030 protects lobby interests, not consumers.
Uniform hygiene documentation for game meat: The time of evisceration, recovery conditions, cooling temperature and butchering standards must be documented uniformly and supplied with every handover, in the same way as documentation for slaughtered meat.
Extension of the mandatory trichinella testing: Wild boar meat from recreational hunting that is passed on as a "gift" or through "direct sale" must be subject to trichinella inspection without exception, even if it is not officially "placed on the market".
Transparency about imported game meat: Game meat in Swiss retail and catering must clearly declare the country of origin, the species and the form of husbandry (enclosure or wild). "Game" as a label without further information does not meet modern consumer protection standards.
Independent quality controls of game meat: Spot checks by state food inspectors for lead, contaminants and germs in game meat placed on the market must be institutionalised and published.
Template motions: Template texts for hunting-critical motions and Template letter: Appeal for change in Switzerland

Talking points

«Game meat is healthier than supermarket meat.» The FSVO explicitly advises certain population groups not to eat game. Lead residues can be detected in the majority of the game sausage products tested. On top of that, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classifies red meat, which includes game, as probably carcinogenic (Group 2A), and processed meat such as game sausage as carcinogenic (Group 1). Stress hormones in the meat of hunted animals are measurably higher than in animals that have died calmly. Game meat is not a natural remedy. It is an emotionally marketed foodstuff with real, officially recognised risks.

“Game meat is sustainable.” Two thirds of the game meat consumed in Switzerland is imported, some of it from farmed enclosures in New Zealand. Sustainability requires transparency, traceability and controlled production chains. Structurally, this does not apply to the game meat market.

“The animal lived free, and that is animal welfare.” Freedom before the shot does not make for a killing that respects animal welfare. Missed shots, long follow-up searches, stress-induced death throes and orphaned young are structurally unavoidable parts of recreational hunting. The “lived free” argument shifts the animal welfare question rather than answering it.

“Lead-free ammunition is not yet available across the board.” Lead-free calibres have been on the market for years. The Bernese hunters' association communicated the ban from 2027 internally long ago. The argument that lead-free ammunition is unavailable is technically outdated and serves to delay matters, not to protect consumers.

“Game meat is inspected here.” In Switzerland, game meat from recreational hunting is not systematically tested for lead, contaminants or germs before it is placed on the market. The trichinella examination for wild boars is the only statutory minimum inspection. Everything else is left to the discretion of the recreational hunter.

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Our Standard

Game meat is not a harmless natural product. It is an emotionally marketed foodstuff with real, officially recognised risks: lead, parasites, variable hygiene and patchy transparency. The recreational hunting lobby sells nature romanticism where consumer protection is what is needed. The FSVO issues warnings. EFSA documents lead exposure. Food Standards Scotland classes STEC contamination as relevant. And two thirds of the game meat consumed in Switzerland does not come from Swiss forests but from imports, some of it from farmed enclosures in New Zealand.

IG Wild beim Wild documents this reality because consumers have a right to full information. Not to hunting romanticism. Not to marketing promises. To facts. To official recommendations. To transparency about what ends up on their plate and under what conditions it got there.

More on the topic of recreational hunting: in our hunting dossier we bring together fact checks, analyses and background reports.