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Why England’s hospitals are putting venison on the menu

Instead of farmed meats, patients at some hospitals are being served wild venison, which proponents say is healthier and more sustainable

Instead of farmed meats, patients at some hospitals are being served wild venison, which proponents say is healthier and more sustainable

The quality of hospital food has always been a hot potato, but patients in Lancashire are giving five stars to the wild venison dishes being cooked up thanks to a new initiative with Forestry England.

East Lancashire Hospitals Trust (ELHT) has been serving wild meat from the Forest of Bowland, just 13 miles away, thanks to a partnership with the government agency which manages 250,000 hectares of English woodland.

High in B vitamins, protein and iron, and very low in fat, venison is one of the healthiest and most sustainable meats. 

With no natural predators such as wolves or lynx to keep deer populations in check, the animals can decimate the biodiversity of woodlands by over-foraging the understory that provides habitat for other wildlife. Forestry England culls some 15,000 deer annually as part of its woodland management.

“It’s fantastic that we’re feeding NHS patients from the nation’s forests,” said Forestry England’s lead wildlife manager Nigel Foster. “Venison is lean, it’s full of vitamins, and it’s wild. And managing the deer is great for biodiversity and forest conditions.” 

The partnership with the East Lancashire Hospitals Trust, which runs hospitals in Burnley, Blackburn, Accrington and Pendle, emerged as an unexpected benefit of the downturn in demand for venison after Brexit.

Venison

With no natural predators to keep populations in check, deer can decimate biodiversity. Image: Jonny Gios

With overseas markets curtailed by our withdrawal from the EU, Forestry England was forced to cut back on deer culling while it found new outlets for the meat.

“We did some research, and that’s when we got in touch with ELHT,” said Foster. “Deer management is an important part of what we do, we’ve been doing it for many years. But it’s also important that we have a really resilient and trusted outlet for the byproduct – and that is venison.”

It’s fantastic that we’re feeding NHS patients from the nation’s forests

The agency partnered with wholesaler Highland Game to supply wild venison from the Forest of Bowland, an area of outstanding natural beauty which straddles the Lancashire-Yorkshire border near Pendle.

After landing on ELHT menus in 2021, the venison and winter vegetable pie, and Lancashire venison and mash casserole have been consistently the most chosen items by patients.

Forestry England has already rolled the service out to four more hospital trusts, with plans to expand to a further 20 this year.

Main image: Martin Koebsch/iStock

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