LEGAL JUSTICE 87

 Good morning!  This newsletter describes the results of analyses of lead levels in game meat sold in Sainsbury's stores.

 

Last winter we bought game meat from Sainsbury's and Waitrose stores and had those samples tested for lead levels. Lead levels were high in the game meat sold by both supermarkets.  Wild game such as Pheasants, Red Grouse and Red-legged Partridges are usually shot with lead ammunition. The lead pellets fragment whilst passing through the flesh of the bird that has been shot and tiny shards of lead are distributed through the bird's body. These are too small to remove during food preparation or eating.

 

Lead is a poison, but bizarrely, there are no Maximum Levels (MLs) set for game meat which has been shot with lead even though MLs exist for other meat such as beef, lamb, pork and chicken. How crazy is that?

 

Waitrose is the supermarket which has led on lead - taking steps to reduce lead levels in their game meat through asking suppliers to supply lead-free game meat. Non-toxic ammunition is used in the UK eg for duck shooting and widely in many other parts of the world.

 

Today we can reveal the results of testing Sainsbury's game meat this season - Sainsbury's are still selling game meat with high lead levels.

This is legal because government has failed to set MLs for lead in game meat, but we wonder why Sainsbury's have not followed Waitrose down the road towards lead-free game meat.  We don't know - Sainsbury's should come clean.  It can't be that Sainsbury's don't know that they are selling game meat with high lead levels because we told them they were back in May (and they should know anyway). Surely it can't be that they just don't care about their customers?

 

What about other supermarkets? Game meat samples from Waitrose and another high-profile store are being tested at this moment. We plan to bring you those results before Christmas.

 

For the full details of our study of Sainsbury's game meat see our latest blog.

 

If you like what we are doing, please consider making a donation through PayPal, bank transfer or a cheque in the post - see details here. Our work is funded solely by donations.

 

Thank you!

 

Wild Justice (Directors: Mark Avery, Chris Packham and Ruth Tingay).

 

 

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