A RECENT article by food writer Xanthe Clay in the Daily Telegraph did not go unnoticed by either the CLA or the Game-to-Eat campaign (gametoeat.co.uk).

CLA chairman Barney White-Spunner said: “While Ms Clay’s suggestion that people should eat more game is to be applauded, her repetition of urban myths surrounding pheasant shooting, suggesting that many birds are ‘buried or binned’, was not only untruthful but affects the good work being done by the Game-to-Eat team.

“Also included in this article were some intriguing facts. She wrote that 10,000 tons of pheasant are thrown away every year. A quick calculation would show that to be in the range of 10-12 million pheasants being discarded annually – more, she claims, than chicken. Seeing that only 15 million pheasants are shot each year and sadly a large portion of them are shipped to mainland Europe, the numbers, according to Ms Clay, going into the UK food chain are precisely zero.

“She did go on to discuss the cooking techniques needed to get the most out of pheasant and the importance of education.

However, I felt the unnecessarily negative message surrounding game, which is all too often bandied about, spoilt the piece.”