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The Royal Society
for the Promotion of Health
38A St. George's Drive,
London, SW1V 4BH
 
Tel: (+44) (0) 20 7630 0121
Fax: (+44) (0) 20 7976 6847
 
rsph@rsph.org

Level 2 Certificate in Wild Game Meat Hygiene
QCA Qualification Number 100/5798/5
New QCA Approved Qualification
Level 2 Certificate in Wild Game Meat Hygiene

The new Wild Game Meat Regulations come into force on 1st January 2006 and form part of a suite of new EU food hygiene regulations. They will introduce strict new controls on the way that hunters sell game and venison for human consumption. It is estimated that at least 5,000 people will require training before the end of the year if the regulations are to be met.

Background
In developing the Level 2 Certificate in Wild Game Meat Hygiene RSPH Qualifications was involved from the outset with representatives of the industry, including trade associations, gamekeepers, employers and LANTRA - the Sector Skills Council for the UK environmental and land-based sector. Therefore, the award provides relevant and verifiable evidence that the holder's knowledge and understanding has been assessed and is sufficient to enable them to act as a competent person in assessing that game meat is fit to enter the national food chain. Approval from the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) ensures common standards and approach to training and assessment, which have also been endorsed by the Food Standards Agency the body responsible for implementing the new Food Hygiene Regulations.

New Regulations
The new regulations state that game meat entering the national food chain* will have to be assessed by a 'competent person'. In this case 'competent' means competent to assess whether the game was behaving normally before it was shot and able to carry out a field examination of the carcase, making sure no abnormalities are found and there is no indication of anything that would prevent the game from entering the food chain. The competent person will probably be a gamekeeper or shoot captain and they will need to have been trained for these duties. Game taken to the game larder to await collection will be subject to rules and standards on cleanliness, exclusion of vermin, and refrigeration. If the shoot processes the game by gutting and plucking, further rules are applied connected with record keeping and traceability.

Registering as a Centre or Tutor
Level 2 Certificate in Wild Game Meat Hygiene

RSPH Qualifications would expect that tutors have teaching experience and a qualification in a relevant subject area, but recognise that experienced teachers can often compensate for a lack of initial subject knowledge, or experienced practitioners for a lack of teaching experience. For the Level 2 Advanced Certificate in Wild Game Meat Hygiene, RSPH Qualifications recommends that a small team of tutors is used.

A suitable course team might include:

  • Tutors with experience of the wild game meat industry
  • Tutors with experience of food safety management systems
  • Tutors with experience of legislation relating to food and food premises
  • Tutors with a background in Environmental Health
View the syllabus for this course Information on becoming an approved centre
If you would like to read the Wild Game Handling Guide produced by FSA which sets out the legal obligations that apply to primary producers and food business operators in the wild game sector, and also provides advice on how these obligations may be met please follow this link.
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