Oh deer! Vegan activists slam NHS decision to serve patients venison from animals culled by Forestry England – saying the health service should ‘dump animal flesh’ in favour of ‘vegetables, pulses, and tofu’
- NHS Trusts set to serve patients meat from deer culled by Forestry England
- East Lancashire Hospital Trust has served venison from nearby forest for a year
- Experts have hailed the wild meat as healthy option, high in protein and low fat
- Move is blasted by animal rights activists who call for more vegetarian menus
The NHS is set to serve patients meat from deer culled in England’s forests, with the plans – which are already underway at one hospital trust – slammed by animal rights activists.
The East Lancashire Hospital Trust has been serving venison culled by Forestry England just 13 miles away in the Forest of Boland and Grizedale for a year.
Now other trusts are signing up to follow suit – with 20 expected to be serving deer by the end of the year.
Experts have hailed the wild meat, which is high in protein, zinc and iron and naturally low in fat, as an ideal choice to help patients make a full recovery.
The East Lancashire Hospital Trust has been serving venison culled by Forestry England just 13 miles away in the Forest of Boland and Grizedale for a year. Pictured: NHS Chef with the Trust’s venison pie
And the dishes are consistently the most chosen menu items – with the venison and winter vegetable pie and Lancashire venison and mash casserole making up more than a third of patient meal choices in December.
But the move has already been blasted by animal rights activists, who are saying the red meat should be ditched for vegetables and tofu.
Dawn Carr, the Director of Vegan Corporate projects at PETA, said: ‘No animal – whether a gentle deer killed under the guise of a ‘cull’ or a pig or cow hung up and shot with a bolt gun – wants to die to be served up in a stew or as a sandwich filler.
Highland Game supply the meat to the East Lanchashire NHS trust from Forestry England
‘Animals suffer tremendously for meat, and serving it in hospitals must be phased out immediately, as it’s like giving out cigarettes at a lung cancer benefit.
‘Heart attacks, strokes, cancer, and diabetes – the UK’s top killers – are all linked to diets heavy in the saturated fat found in animal-derived foods.
‘So dumping animal flesh in favour of healthy, hearty, and humane vegetables, pulses, and tofu would be great news for NHS patients and staff.
‘Serving vegan meals would also be a long-term cost-effective solution and better for the environment – just what the doctor ordered!’
With the UK’s deer population thought to be at its highest level for 1,000 years, 350,000 deer are culled each year.
Adam Fisk, from Highland Game, who supply the meat to the NHS trust from Forestry England, said: ‘Highland Game works incredibly hard to take a seasonal and variable wild meat source and present it to modern marketplaces by working to the highest standards of welfare, processing and food safety, a philosophy all of our suppliers share.
With the UK’s deer population thought to be at its highest level for 1,000 years, 350,000 deer are culled each year (stock image)
‘Working with the NHS is testament to that ethos and a real win-win as patients, visitors and staff can be nourished with Britain’s naturally available wild venison.
‘Venison need not be the reserve of fine dining alone, with the right choice of cuts presented in the right meal formats, and when taking into account the health and environmental benefits venison has an excellent combined value proposition.
‘Now as we roll out we are using all the Forestry England venison.
‘All those public forests that people go to and walk their dog and go to Go Ape – there’s a whole forestry management programme behind the scenes of those locations.
‘They have a deer management plan where they assess the numbers in the forests – which are rising at the moment – and then they cull a certain proportion to try and keep control of the population.
‘They cull it and then they have quality assurance and then we run a truck out to collect those and then take them to the factory to then process.
The Royal Blackburn Hospital, which is part of the East Lancashire Hospital Trust
‘It will go through a series of different checks and then a proportion of the carcass which is diced is then going to the NHS – the rest would go to our normal customers, Tescos, Morrisons, Aldi etc.’
The project was set up by Tim Radcliffe, now the NHS’s National Net Zero Food Programme manager.
He said: ‘We want to give patients and staff the very best food we can. As meats go, venison is low in fat and has good nutrients to aid recovery and promote good patient health.
‘Wild venison is a cost neutral option in comparison to other meats – and if you can buy high quality, sustainable ingredients that has been sourced from within 20 miles, why would you ever consider importing meat?
‘Working with Forestry England and Highland Game we can get venison straight from the Forest of Bowland so it could not get any more local.’
In August, East Lancashire Trust and Forestry England’s partnership was shortlisted for a food innovation award by BBC Food and Farming Awards.
In the first year of the partnership Forestry England supplied 1,000kg of diced venison used in meals for patients and staff.
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