In December, the Trust’s venison and winter vegetable pie and Lancashire venison & mash casserole dishes regularly accounted for 33-50% of patient meal choices. ELHT is a Bronze Food for Life Served Here award holder and serves meals to patients and staff in five hospitals across the region.
Facilities Manager Tim Radcliffe, 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.”
Forestry England, which manages England’s 1,500 forests and woodlands, culls deer as part of its sustainable forest management programme.
Christian Nissen, managing director or Highland Game who process and supply the venison to ELHT, added: “Highland Game is delighted to be working in partnership with Forestry England and the NHS on this exciting project and we are committed to ensuring the highest quality and safety controls to help more people enjoy this delicious, healthy, and naturally abundant product.
“Wild venison from Highland Game is expertly sourced and handled along every step of the supply chain, from best-in-class forestry rangers and larders through to our market leading BRC AA grade factory. Here we handle and process to the highest standards guaranteeing that quality, food safety and presentation are the very best and in doing so help further raise the appeal of wild venison.”