Game meat products sold in Sainsbury’s stores around the country will now feature The British Game Alliance (BGA) Kitemark. This is a first for a major supermarket and sets out to reassure customers of the provenance of the game meat they are buying.
Game meat bearing the British Game Alliance Kitemark has been produced on estates that are subject to high, independently assured, welfare and environmental standards. This stamp of assurance will give consumers confidence in the traceability, sustainability, and quality of the game they eat. The British Game Alliance Kitemark will allow the non-shooting public to recognise the high standard to which the meat is produced, just as they expect with farmed produce.
The fact that customers will be able to find game with the BGA Kitemark whilst doing their supermarket shop in Sainsbury’s is a huge step forward for the game meat sector.
North Yorkshire based Holme Farmed Venison will be producing these products. These include Pheasant Breast Fillets, and Diced Game Casserole Mix (venison, partridge, and pheasant, diced in-season). An estimated half a million pheasants and partridges will be used in these products, which is great news for the shooting industry. If more people have easy access to buying game meat then the demand for it will surely increase. This will not only secure the future of game shooting but also help to spread awareness about the good that shoots do for the countryside.
This represents a huge step forward for game meat. The sector has introduced and embraced independent assurance for game shoots, and the public can now see the results of those efforts and find assured game on their supermarket shelves. Game shoots now have access to credible assurance that the public can recognise alongside familiar logos they expect to see on their farmed food. The more the public see assured game as an ethical, assured product they can put in their trolleys, the more secure game shooting will be.
Liam Stokes, BGA Chief Executive
