49
Institute Date Advice
Federal Institute for Risk
Assessment, Germany
(BfR 2011)
September 2011 BfR recommends that children, pregnant women, and women planning to
have children should not eat meat from game animals killed by hunters. The
consumption of game meat contaminated by lead bullets should definitely be
avoided. Cutting out large sections of meat around the bullet hole is not always
enough to guarantee removal of lead.
Scientific Committee of the
Spanish Agency for Food Safety
and Nutrition Safety
(AESAN 2012)
February 2012 AESAN recommends that children under 6 years of age, pregnant women and
women who plan on getting pregnant should avoid eating the meat of game
that has been shot with lead ammunition. This is because the lead fragments
cannot be removed from the meat completely. Wherever possible, limiting
the use of lead ammunition in favour of other available alternatives should be
promoted.
National Food Agency, Sweden
(SNFA 2014)
June 2012
June 2014
Pregnant women and children 0-7 yrs. should avoid eating meat shot with lead
ammunition. Using lead-free ammunition eliminates the problem of elevated
lead levels in game meat and products made from game meat.
Meat from the bullet channel and the affected meat next to the bullet channel
and another 10 cm seemingly unaffected meat should not be used for food, but
discarded.
Food Standards Agency, UK
(FSA 2012)
October 2012 The Food Standards Agency is advising people that eating lead-shot game
on a frequent basis can expose them to potentially harmful levels of lead. The
FSA’s advice is that frequent consumers of lead-shot game should eat less of
this type of meat. This advice 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.
The Norwegian Food Safety
Authority
(VKM 2013)
October 2013 Children, pregnant women, women in fertile age and people with high blood
pressure should not eat lead-shot cervid meat more often than once a month.
The use of non-lead bullets removes the risk of lead contamination of game
meat. If lead ammunition is used, one should use bullets that fragment to a
small extent upon impact. Meat removal in a radius of 30 cm along the bullet
channel is necessary. The effect of this is however not fully known.
Table 3: Advice by national food safety and risk assessment agencies regarding the consumption of game meat shot using lead ammunition
Consumption of game and human blood lead levels: Norwegian experience
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