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Lead contamination in game meat from
lead ammunition
In 2010, the EFSA published an opinion with new data
on the exposure to lead of the European population and
on the toxicological effect of this heavy metal. In its opin-
ion, the EFSA recommends to uphold no longer the limit
for lead in the form of the tolerable weekly intake (TWI),
which has been used for decades and instead to mini-
mise the intake of lead as far as possible. Based on data
from an earlier project on the intake of environmental
contaminants, the BfR was able to show that consumers
primarily take in lead through food that is consumed in
large amounts and regularly. In contrast, game is eaten
relatively rarely, but can sometimes show very high levels
of lead. Here, high consumption on a regular basis could
lead to a health risk of certain consumer groups, such as
pregnant women and children.
To investigate whether lead content in game can be re-
duced, the BfR conducted the project “Food Safety of
Game Meat Obtained Through Hunting” from 2011 to
2014. This project was commissioned by the Federal
Ministry of Food and Agriculture and carried out in coop-
eration with the federal states (Länder), hunting associa-
tions, game trade association and the Eberswalde Uni-
versity for Sustainable Development. It is the only project
of its size worldwide and it compares the effects of lead
ammunition and non-lead ammunition on lead levels in
game. For the purposes of this project, samples were
taken from the three animal species roe deer, wild boar
and red deer from several regions of Germany, with dif-
ferent lead contents in the soil respectively. Per animal,
three samples were taken: from the haunch, from the
saddle and from the marketable and edible meat near to
the wound channel. Overall, sufficient and representative
samples were available for roe deer and wild boar.
It was observed that lead ammunition caused signifi-
cantly higher maximum concentrations of lead in game
meat, particularly in the edible tissue close to the wound
channel. If such pieces of game meat are regularly con-
sumed in large amounts, this could have adverse effects
on the health of pregnant women and children. However,
these high values were not found in all animals shot with
lead ammunition. The lead contamination caused by lead
ammunition was found to be variable, and some game
samples contained also lower levels of lead. For exam-
ple, comparatively low levels were found in the saddle
and, particularly, the haunch, which may indicate the sig-
nificance of ammunition for the contamination of game
with lead.
Overall, the BfR found in its project that the use of lead
ammunition as compared to non-lead ammunition re-
sulted in a statistically significant increase in the mean
lead levels in meat from roe deer and wild boar. This was
also the case when the effect of the regions with different
lead levels in the soil and thus the lead intake by animals
through feeding was controlled for. Wild boar exhibited
higher mean lead levels than roe deer in this project.
Based on the results of the project, the BfR concluded
in its risk assessment that the additional intake of lead
from game as compared to the total intake of lead re-
mains toxicologically insignificant for adults with aver-
age consumption patterns. However, this assessment
does not apply to children and unborn babies. For this
subgroup, the risk of adverse health effects from lead is
particularly high. The BfR, therefore, recommends that
children up to seven years, pregnant women and women
of childbearing age refrain from consuming game shot
with lead ammunition. In the opinion of the BfR, action
should be taken to encourage the use of non-lead am-
munition for hunting because this reduces the content of
lead in game.
Food Safety
