In order to inform negotiations on the level of veterinary supervision required at game meat plants, and post-mortem procedures required for the protection of public health, the Food Standards Agency (FSA) requested that a qualitative risk assessment be developed to address the following question: “What is the risk to human health (particularly of human infection with a foodborne pathogen) from the handling/consumption of wild game?”   The risk was then reassessed for hygiene controls based on Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points (HACCP) principles, and for veterinary supervision. The study concluded that, for the majority of hazards in the study, implementation of HACCP and hygiene controls, together with the removal of obviously unfit carcasses could reduce the risks, and official inspection could further reduce the risks from M. avium in game birds, wild ducks and wild deer, and from M. bovis and Salmonella in wild deer.

Veterinary Laboratories Agency (UK)