LDNS engages with Scottish Venison, May 2025.
I have been invited to join the Executive Committee of Scottish Venison to represent Scottish lowland low-throughput venison producers and processors who wish to use the Hunters Derogation to dispose of self-shot deer carcasses within their locality using the retained derogations EU178/2002, EU 852/2004 and EU 853/2004, or by disposing of the carcasses to an Approved Game Handling Establishment.
This is also under the domestic jurisdiction of the Local Authority Environmental Health Officers as premises such as chillers and processing sites, may need to be registered as Food Businesses.
Scottish Venison is a sector wide organisation linking Producers, (stalkers) to Approved Game Handling Establishments, (Venison Dealers), to promote the benefits of venison consumption across Scotland.
Scottish Venison supports a food safety standard in the form of Scottish Quality Wild Venison, which isn’t a quality assurance but a safety assurance standard, it has a membership standard induction and annual appraisal scheme for producers, stalkers, and for Processors, AGHE. The standards and the scheme are under review currently.
Research is being undertaken to determine if a standard can be devised to assist the low volume self-shot deer processors to market their venison as “Scottish Local Venison”, with a different logo.
The standards for all producers, the stalkers, would be the same, and most of the processing standards would be the same, but modified due to risk levels, triggers and throughput.
I have been asked to join the Technical Advisory Committee for the SQWV standards.