Game meat dealers set date for ban on lead shot
After years of threats and warnings, the move to get rid of lead shot is speeding up. Philip Bowern reports
THE straws have been in the wind for decades. But, even so, this week’s announcement that game dealers across Britain will stop accepting game meat shot with lead ammunition from July next year came as a shock to some in the shooting community.
There are still vast stocks of lead ammunition in the cupboards and cabinets of those who shoot, up and down the country. Even larger volumes are held by manufacturers and guns shops. And, although the availability of non-toxic shot to meet most needs is growing apace, there are still gaps in the market for some calibre of firearms and some specialist shooting needs.
Nevertheless, a coalition of shooting bodies pledged last year to phase out lead ammunition voluntarily within five years.
However, with the Government last week announcing it was considering an outright ban on lead ammunition, saying that as a known poison lead should be removed from the countryside as soon as possible, the move towards a ban has come closer.
One organisation that is ready to accept the new rules is the British Game Alliance (BGA). It was originally established to deal with the problem of shot game failing to get into the food chain. Reports of supply far exceeding demand, as game shooting grew in popularity, needed fast action. The BGA has helped create new markets for game meat.
Now it has a new challenge as game dealers and supermarkets, fuelled by consumer pressure, have turned the screw on ending the use of lead ammunition to put game meat like pheasant, partridge, pigeon and venison on the table.
In an immediate response to the news from the National Game Dealers Association (NGDA) that its members will no longer accept leadshot game from July next year, BGA boss Liam Stokes had this to say: “The British Game Alliance supported the shooting sector’s commitment to a five year phase-out of lead, announced in early 2020, precisely because the stockists and retailers of BGA Assured Game were telling us that they would not tolerate leadshot birds for long. We therefore welcome
‘The demand for game meat is high – if only we can source a lead-free product’ LIAM STOKES BRITISH GAME ASSOCIATION
the leadership the National Game Dealers’ Association has shown, providing a clear timeframe for this transition for all shoots supplying game into the commercial food chain.
“We are consulting with supermarkets, the NGDA, our advisory committee drawn from across the shooting sector, BGA Shoots and our registered game dealers, to put in place systems and protocols to support our community through this change. We anticipate different BGA shoots will have different needs and different responses to the announcement, and we will not be pushing any one solution. We remain committed to the five year phase-out, while supporting both the NGDA and the stockists of BGA Assured Game who need a lead-free product.
“There will be concern among many of our stakeholders today, and we are here to listen and respond to those concerns. But the reality, as we have discerned from multiple conversations with major retailers, is that the NGDA’s customers simply do not want lead in their products, and the market for lead-shot game is set to dwindle.
“I would also like to highlight the opportunities. We have heard from many stockists that the ceiling for game meat is so high, if only we can source a BGA Assured, lead-free product. The NGDA announcement allows us to press home the health and environmental qualities of game, as a sustainable, lean, locally sourced and quintessentially British meat. This is a message that major retailers are ready to hear and amplify,” he added.
“We have no doubt that the future of game meat is a BGA Assured, lead-free supply chain, and that is what we intend to deliver for the part of our sector that supplies the commercial market. But we remain an organisation delivering Shoot Assurance to every part of the shooting community, to shoots large and small, creating a self-regulatory shield that will safeguard all our futures. Our commitment to selfassurance accessible to all will not change as we seek to support those enterprises moving to a lead-free model. Our mission has always been twofold, to protect our members through self-regulation, and to boost the consumption of game.
“A consumer of game is the surest friend of game shooting, and supporting the transition to lead-free is the surest way to increase our number of friends.”
Many who shoot will feel they have been bounced into changing from tried and tested ammunition with too little evidence. But those who consume the end product – game meat – are calling the shots.