Mon, Jan-22-24, 01:19
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Plan: Muscle Centric
Stats: 238/153/160
BF:
Progress: 109%
Location: UK
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Quote:
Nurseries to serve venison in effort to reduce wild deer numbers
Population is at its highest for a millennium, with an estimated two million deer threatening to destroy woodland and precious wildlife habitats
For the ever-increasing herds of wild deer decimating British woodland and crops, the hunter and his rifle have been the only predator they need fear for more than a century.
Now thousands of nursery school children are joining the fight to control Britain’s soaring deer numbers by eating them for lunch.
Tops Day Nurseries, which looks after 4,000 children across 32 nurseries in Dorset and Hampshire, has become one of the first education establishments to undertake to put wild shot venison on its menus.
Working in collaboration with Eat Wild, the development board for British game, they have developed five dishes that are being served three times a week — some 3,000 meals a month.
The number of wild deer roaming Britain is at its highest for a millennium, with an estimated two million threatening woodland and wildlife habitats.
With no natural predators such as wolves or lynx, the animals can decimate the biodiversity of woodlands by over-foraging the understory, vegetation beneath the canopy that provides a habitat for other wildlife. They can also have a devastating effect on farmers’ crops, descending on fields at night and leaving agricultural businesses with £20,000 a year losses due to deer.
Deer and vehicle collisions result in around £45 million of damage to cars a year, with 75,000 accidents caused by deer, resulting in between 10 and 15 driver deaths each year in the UK.
Between 500,000 and 750,000 wild deer need to be culled each year just to keep the population at a standstill, but currently only 350,000 are killed each year. An overall population of fewer than a million is favoured by conservationists to reduce their economic and ecological impact but the current system is not working.
One of the main factors in controlling deer numbers is the price hunters can get for their carcasses. If there is increased demand for venison then the price will go up and hunters and game dealers will be incentivised to shoot more.
The aim of Eat Wild is to create new markets for the untapped resource, and they are aiming to break into the education sector.
Louisa Clutterbuck, chief executive of Eat Wild, said the venison for the nurseries is sourced from two “very large estates in the South Downs”.
“The deer population is out of control so there is absolutely no problem with supply, there is oversupply at the moment,” she said.
Clutterbuck said the deer population will “only increase with government funding more trees being planted across the country”. The government has pledged to plant 30,000 hectares of trees per year, every year, until 2050.
She said the education sector was a “new market who have never used wild meat before”.
At the moment few hunters will lug many fallow deer out of the woods for £20 from a game dealer. They say it needs to be closer to £60.
Clutterbuck said: “The stalkers barely cover their costs at the moment by selling meat to the game dealer. We are trying to create more demand and rather than people seeing game as a restaurant and very high end, Michelin-star meat, we want it to be served at your local pub and taken home and cooked as a midweek meal. We are also looking at supplying prisons and sports stadiums.”
Before the Covid-19 pandemic there were estimated to be 1.5 million wild deer, with about 80 per cent of the venison shot in the UK going to restaurants or the hospitality trade.
However, those sectors struggled during lockdowns and social distancing and demand for venison collapsed. With deer stalkers not culling as many animals their population boomed.
Leon Challis-Davies, culinary director at Eat Wild, who is leading the project with Tops Nurseries, said: “It’s so important that we get the younger generation to eat more nutritional and vitamin-rich food to help them develop.
“Wild meat is not only healthier, but it’s also more sustainable than what we consume from our current meat-producing sector. It’s much more flavoursome too. For the countryside community in particular, this is a huge win, and we hope to take it to the next level and introduce wild meat into higher education and beyond.”
Venison is high in B vitamins, protein and iron, very low in fat and a source of essential Omega 3 acids, making it one of the healthiest and sustainable meats.
Peter Ttofis, catering manager for Tops Nurseries, said: “We decided to create fun and vibrant dishes from around the world using wild food. Dishes like venison bolognaise or venison orzo bake will make their way onto our menus, giving the children their first tastes of game and a gateway to new nutritional flavours.”
Eat Wild is not the only organisation trying to tap into new markets for wild meat.
Forestry England, which manages about 1,500 woodlands, culled around 16,000 deer last year and has begun supplying venison shot on its land to online customers and hospitals.
By working in partnership with Highland Game, the game dealership, Forestry England has sold 6.5 tonnes of venison to four north west NHS trusts and they are in advanced discussions with five more London NHS trusts.
They first began supplying East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust in 2021 with venison culled 13 miles away in the Forest of Bowland and Grizedale.
In the first year of the partnership the hospital’s venison and winter vegetable pie and venison and mash casserole were consistently the most chosen items by patients.
Forestry England venison can also be found in retailers across the UK and in Gousto, Mindful Chef and HelloFresh meal boxes.
They have also formed a partnership with Farm Wilder, a non-profit organisation promoting nature-friendly farming, to sell wild venison direct to customers from its forests in southwest England through the Farm Wilder website.
Forestry England is part of the working group which has developed the British quality wild venison standard, which was launched in April 2023.
The standard aims to guarantee traceability of wild venison and ensure a set of standards are met throughout the supply chain.
Jim Lee, wildlife manager for Forestry England, said: “This will build consumer and retailer confidence in a meat which, too often, people feel is not for them.
“We would like to see more venison available in retailers and via public sector procurement so that more people can benefit from eating wild venison and by doing so grow the health of our woodlands.”
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https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/...mbers-5xwwzjpdp |
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DH was partly sick with worry!
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