British Quality Wild Venison
The British Quality Wild Venison Standard (England, Wales and NI) aims to increase the traceability of British Wild Venison and ensure that a set of standards are met throughout the supply chain, from point of shot, through to the end of processing to support consumer confidence and increase sales of British Wild Venison.
Benefits
Customer Confidence
Increased Traceability
High Standards
About British Quality Wild Venison (BQWV)
The British Quality Wild Venison standard relates to all aspects of the management and processing of wild deer, ensuring that statutory regulation and best practice are adhered to by producers and processors throughout the wild venison supply chain.
Participation in the British Quality Wild Venison Standard is voluntary. Membership, following audit, is open to all British wild venison producers (deer stalkers, estates, landowners) and processors (Approved Game Handling Establishments,). Currently British Quality Wild Venison will be available in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Scottish Quality Wild Venison will continue to operate in Scotland.
The British Quality Wild Venison standard relates to all aspects of the management and processing of wild deer, ensuring that statutory regulation and best practice are adhered to by producers and processors throughout the wild venison supply chain. The standard includes:
- Deer management and control
- Stalking proficiency
- Deer chiller/larder management
- Carcass inspection
- Transportation of deer carcasses
- Processing
- Hygiene standards
- Traceability
The British Quality Wild Venison Standard only relates to wild venison, wild deer that are legally managed for human consumption and are considered to be wild under the applicable laws in the UK. This includes deer living in enclosed territory under conditions of freedom similar to those of wild game and without veterinary intervention.
Deer Stalkers (England, Wales and NI) for the purpose of the British Quality Wild Venison Standard are thought of as producers. The standard sets out the requirements for producers, to support the production of high-quality deer carcasses, ensuring that statutory regulations, best practice and traceability are followed.
For producers in Scotland, Scottish Quality Wild Venison will be the audited standard to work to.
Membership of BQWV results in:
- Development of a robust wild venison supply chain
- New markets for British Wild Venison
- A complete audited supply chain for British Wild Venison
- Stability within the British Wild Venison market
- More consistent prices across the producer supply chain
Processors (England, Wales, NI and Scotland) once accredited will be able to display the BQWV logo, assuring the traceability of the products to a range of customers
The key aspects of the processing standard are the traceability, the auditable segregation of deer carcasses entering the processing plant and of products coming through the processing lines and that the producers and processors are maintaining the standards required.
The BQWV standard relates to all aspects of the management and processing of wild deer, ensuring that statutory regulation and best practice are adhered to by producers and processors throughout the wild venison supply chain. The processor standard includes:
- Audited segregation of venison entering the processing plant
- Compliance with general HACCP principles
- Monitoring of producers providing venison for the processing facility
Certification and audit fees are payable to cover the costs of auditing, maintenance of the standard and the issuing of the British Quality Wild Venison Processor certification.