This blog has praised Waitrose for its stance on lead in game meat – see here and here very recently for examples.
But some blog readers, obviously Waitrose customers, have suggested that the game meat on sale is not lead free.
One, at least, has questioned Waitrose on this and received the reply below which suggests the supermarket has not kept, and does not intend to keep, its promise of lead-free by this season.
Not be buying game in Waitrose then until at least 2021. The trouble is I like game meat ( pigeon, pheasant, partridge, wild boar and venison NEVER grouse) But will only buy it when I am sure it is ethically sourced from an estate that doesn’t persecute, follows all the provisions suggested by GWCT and it is definitely NOT shot with lead ( Currently nobody). So it will be venison and home shot Pheasant (using zinc pellets) only for the foreseeable future.
How can Waitrose possibly keep their promise if the shooters refuse to change? Never promise what you can’t deliver. Have they discovered that the shooting industry doesn’t keep its word?
Defra are the real rogues in all of this for not introducing legislation to totally ban the poison. The guy from GWCT on Farming Today talked about the shooters moving to a voluntary ban on lead but without legislation from Defra this just won’t happen. The shooting industry as a whole is totally unscrupulous and will continue with their horrific abuse of our native wildlife and upland environment unless forced to change by law. Even then there will still be a fair proportion of associated criminals as we see today all the time.
The practicalities may be a bit of a problem for them, but as long as they mean to do it and do it soon, then it’s a good thing. From that video it sounds like their procurement guy really wants to do it.
Presumably they can check it by random testing for lead in the produce.
Here’s to a lead-free world as soon as possible!
m parry – yes but they’ve had over a year to get their supply chains sorted out. What they have to do is ensure that their suppliers don’t use lead ammunition – and do checks to ensure that is true. The chance of selling your Pheasants to waitrose is prize enough for suppliers.
I blogged about pheasants earlier in the year in an attempt to work out whether I would be comfortable adding pheasant meat to my diet. My personal conclusion was that I’m comfortable with someone running a pheasant shoot as long as they abide by the law, eat what they shoot, and are good neighbours minimizing the impacts of their shoots on nearby humans, domestic animals and biodiversity. As I can’t guarantee that this is the case with any pheasant that I’m likely to come across I won’t be adding pheasant to the list of things that I am happy to eat.
Surely having made a statement of their policy (i.e. “Waitrose don’t want to feed people lead as per FSA guidance”) the consequence of being unable to source compliant product is not stocking it?