Wild game from recreational hunters: Carrion on the plate
Autumn is wild game season — and thus peak season for unhealthy game dishes in restaurants, farm shops and private kitchens.
Anyone who secretly believes that wild game arrives on the table “naturally pure” and healthy — beware!
Behind the romantic image lurk risks that are both tangible and dangerous.
Wild game from recreational hunting is no romantic premium delicacy — all too often it is carrion with risks attached. Caution is not a luxury; it is a matter of protecting lives.
“Carrion” — no mere figure of speech. Within minutes of the shot, the decomposition process begins: blood coagulates, bacteria multiply, and technically speaking the felled animal quickly becomes a carcass with the character of carrion. Gutting must take place swiftly in order to prevent the growth of bacteria (it is estimated that within one hour of death, one million bacteria per gram of contaminated meat can develop) and external pathogens such as dirt or flies.
When recreational hunters then dawdle for hours as usual before retrieving or attending to the animal, the damage worsens: inadequate cooling, unhygienic practices and the absence of official controls turn the venison into a health hazard.
Toxic cocktail and ammunition residues
Wild animals live amid pesticides, slurry, heavy metals and PFAS — and sooner or later these substances end up in the meat. Recreational hunters are fond of concealing the fact that their “natural product” is untested and therefore by no means automatically “organic”.
Particularly problematic: residues from ammunition. Many authorities issue clear warnings against consumption, especially for children, pregnant women and women wishing to conceive.
Raw or only partially cooked game can transmit pathogens such as trichinellosis, salmonella, E. coli or the hepatitis E virus. In cases of immunodeficiency or pregnancy, such infections can have serious consequences, ranging from liver inflammation to chronic illness or organ failure.
Beware of romantic hunting propaganda
Hunting clubs praise game meat as “ecological, low-fat, and natural.” Nicely put, but reality looks different: the absence of official meat inspections, uncontrolled processing, and the lack of hygiene regulations turn the whole thing into a lottery. What to do? Stay away from game meat! Recreational hunters should eat it themselves.
Added value:
- Game meat: Natural, healthy – or dangerous?
- Game meat from recreational hunters? – Carrion on the plate!
- According to studies, there are health risks in the context of consuming game meat
- Nutrition: The civilised palate
- Game meat from hunters is carrion
- Game meat cannot be organic
- Meat from wild animals is not organic game
- Dementia: How harmful is venison?
- Game meat makes you sick
- Lead residues in game meat products
- Game meat: Risks, lead, and hunting myths
- Caution: Warning about game meat from recreational hunters
- Hunters also lie when selling meat
More on the subject of recreational hunting: In the dossier The Role and Criticism of Recreational Hunters we shed light on the training, power and self-image of recreational hunters. The scientific evidence is presented in the overview Studies on the Effects of Recreational Hunting.
The position of IG Wild beim Wild: IG Wild beim Wild rejects recreational hunting. Our model is the canton of Geneva, which has managed without recreational hunting since 1974: without hunting seasons, without hunting dogs, without driven hunts, without high seats, without the animal cruelty and crime that go hand in hand with hunting season elsewhere. What has worked there for over fifty years disproves every position paper by JagdSchweiz. An association that bases its policy on claims it refutes in its own documents is not a professional organisation, but a factory for misinformation.
