The partnership will see around 3,000 venison meals served a month in a bid to help reduce wild deer numbers. There are between ten and 15 driver deaths every year due to collisions between deers and vehicles.
Leon Challis-Davies, culinary director at Eat Wild who is leading the project with Tops Nurseries, told The Times: “It’s so important that we get the younger generation to eat more nutritional and vitamin-rich food to help them develop. Wild meat is not only healthier, but it’s also more sustainable than what we consume from our current meat-producing sector.
“It’s much more flavoursome too. For the countryside community in particular, this is a huge win, and we hope to take it to the next level and introduce wild meat into higher education and beyond.”
In August 2023, the Welsh Game Fair launched a campaign to get high protein game meat such as venison, pheasant, duck and rabbit on the menu of Welsh hospitals and schools.
A collaboration between Forestry England, Highland Game and the East Lancashire Hospital Trust (ELHT) led to more than 600kg of wild venison appearing on ELHT menus since April 2021. There are advanced discussions for five more London NHS Trusts to also start serving venison to patients.