Wild game: Natural, healthy

The German Hunting Association (DJV) acts as an umbrella organization for 15 state hunting associations, with the exception of Bavaria, and represents hobby hunters.

In an interview with DJV President Helmut Dammann-Tamke, prisma spoke about the importance of hobby hunting and the increasing unhealthy trend towards wild game meat.

The hunting lobby likes to present wild game as "the most natural food of all", regional, healthy and sustainable.

However, a look at independent studies, official assessments, and investigations from recent years paints a far less romantic picture. In fact, game meat is one of the least regulated meat categories in Europe, and the risks range from contamination with pollutants and pathogens to hygienic deficiencies in processing.

Nevertheless, the German Hunting Association (DJV) spreads a narrative that largely ignores, downplays, or trivializes these risks. This can be dangerous for consumers.

Lead contamination: A well-known problem that is often downplayed

One of the best-documented risks is lead contamination from hunting ammunition. Numerous scientific studies from Germany and Europe show that game meat, especially from animals killed with lead-based rifle ammunition, often has elevated lead concentrations.

The German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) has been warning for years that children, pregnant women, and frequent consumers of game meat are particularly at risk. Pilot studies have found significantly higher lead concentrations in the blood of people who frequently eat game meat than in non-consumers.

The German Hunting Association (DJV) likes to emphasize that game meat is "healthy and uncontaminated." The fact that the association simultaneously lobbied against a ban on lead ammunition for decades and continues to downplay the risks even today appears to endanger consumers and is primarily a representation of the hunting lobby's interests, not consumer protection.

Hygiene problems: Meat from the wild – without the control of the meat industry

The hunting association conveys the image that game meat is particularly "natural". What the DJV hardly mentions:
Wild animals are not slaughtered in a controlled environment, but in the forest, under fluctuating hygienic conditions, without professional infrastructure.

The cold chain is often inadequate:

Game is sometimes transported warm in the trunk of a car for hours.
Butchering and butchering often take place in hobby rooms.
Many hobby hunters have neither professional refrigeration systems nor experience in handling food.

Food safety inspections, which are standard practice in the meat industry, are largely absent. This is also confirmed by veterinary studies: Wild game repeatedly shows contamination with salmonella, trichinella, hepatitis E viruses, and other zoonotic diseases.

The fact that the DJV often portrays such problems as "isolated cases" contradicts the findings of independent studies.

Environmental pollutants: Wild animals are not organic animals

Wild animals are exposed to environmental pollutants without any filtering: heavy metals from soils, pesticide residues, PFAS contamination from water, and microplastics. Independent studies – including those from Germany, Switzerland, and Austria – repeatedly show elevated levels of cadmium, mercury, and even radioactive nuclides in wild game.

Nevertheless, the German Hunting Association (DJV) claims that game meat is a "premium product". The reality is more complex – and often more inconvenient for hunting associations.

The myth of "regional and sustainable" food

The German Hunting Association (DJV) portrays wild game as a sustainable alternative to factory farming. But here are the facts:

The majority of venison, red deer and wild boar meat consumed in Germany is imported, often from Eastern Europe, where hunting practices and control standards vary massively.
Hobby hunting does not produce predictable quantities, which is why the supposedly regional market hardly exists outside of the season.
“Regional” does not automatically mean “healthy”, especially when munitions contamination, parasite infestation or poor processing play a role.

Wild game is not a controlled organic product – even if the DJV likes to make this association.

Downplaying the issue by the hunting lobby: A structural problem

The German Hunting Association (DJV) pursues clear economic and political interests: hunting should remain socially acceptable; game meat should be considered a high-quality product. This interest leads to risks being regularly downplayed.

Examples:

The DJV emphasizes the lower fat content of game meat, but hardly mentions the actual levels of pollutants.
He refers to "official meat inspections", although these only cover certain areas (e.g. trichinella in wild boar).
He aggressively advertises with "premium quality", although the production chain is often far from professional standards.

This is classic image-building communication, not objective consumer information. The risks are real, well-documented scientifically, and are systematically downplayed by the hunting lobby.

For consumers, the following is crucial: