Lead Week, 15 #Pbweekmia

This is Lead Week on this blog.

A few questions for Iceland Foods (‘food you can trust’):

• have you ever tested the lead levels in the game meat sold in your stores? If so, what were the results?
• after I blogged about lead levels in game meat as a response to the announcement that you were going to sell grouse meat what actions did you take to investigate this matter, if any?
• do you intend to sell grouse meat in your stores in future?
• do you regret selling grouse meat in your stores?
• if you intend to continue selling grouse meat in your stores would you consider labelling it as follows, this is just a rough draft, you might want to edit it a bit:

 

Lead is a poison

This product contains lead.

This product will still contain lead even if you find all the pellets of lead shot in it and remove them

On the basis of recent tests, this product is likely to contain lead levels which are on average 100 times higher than the maximum permissible levels of lead in other forms of meat

By eating this product you will increase your dietary lead intake this week; probably by a factor of 5-10 fold

The Food Standards Agency says ‘There is no agreed safe level for lead intake’

The Food Standards Agency has been quoted as saying: ‘occasional consumption of lead-shot game birds’ that would have minimal effect on overall exposure to lead would be ‘about twice a year’

The Food Standards Agency says ‘To minimise the risk of lead intake, people who frequently eat lead-shot game, particularly small game, should cut down their consumption. This is especially important for vulnerable groups such as toddlers and children, pregnant women and women trying for a baby, as exposure to lead can harm the developing brain and nervous system.’

I know this is quite a large label but you currently don’t tell your customers any of this even though you are ‘committed to providing safe, healthy and ethically sourced food‘ and ‘All Iceland brand products are clearly labelled on the back of our packs with a full and honest list of our ingredients, and information on their nutritional value.‘.  Just saying…

And perhaps other supermarkets might want to consider similar labels for their game meat. I wonder have they tested the lead levels in their game meat?  Maybe we should do it for them.

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