San Francisco Frontiers - Venison butts beef off menus at UK venues

As climate change concerns mount, some catering services are turning to deer meat as a low-carbon alternative to farmed livestock like beef.

Since the summer, fans at Brentford football club's ground in west London have been offered venison burgers made of wild deer caught in England and Scotland.

Twickenham Stadium, host of the women's Rugby World Cup final in September, sold nearly 5,500 wild venison burgers in a month.

The push has been led by catering giant Levy UK, which now serves venison at more than 20 sports and cultural venues across Britain and Ireland.

They include London's famous O2 Arena and the internationally-acclaimed National Theatre.

Britons are already used to "replacing meat with plant-based alternatives," Levy UK chief executive Jon Davies told AFP.

But he maintained "some of these fake meats can be over-processed or not necessarily great for you".

"I was keen to find something that was good for the planet but also nutritionally beneficial."

- 'Sustainable choice' -

Britain's deer population has exploded from 450,000 in 1970 to two million today, the highest in more than 1,000 years, according to the UK environment ministry.

In medieval England, venison with its gamey taste was highly prized by the aristocracy.

Levy works with companies who supply venison killed by professional hunters on English and Scottish estates.

The wild deer "populations are essentially culled by trained people," Davies said, adding "the traceability is very clear".

Wild venison's carbon footprint is dramatically lower than other meats -- about 38 percent less than beef and 49 percent lower than lamb, according to conservationists Scottish Natural Heritage.

Levy UK is aiming to replace 54 tonnes of beef burgers with its "Game On" signature wild venison burger, served in an eco-friendly seaweed-lined tray.

Brentford FC's head of sustainability, James Beale, said supporters had been impressed by the new menu choice and the club was keen to "champion sustainable change".

Levy maintains the move could save 1,182 tonnes of CO₂ annually, saying "wild venison offers an 85 percent lower carbon footprint per kilogram".

It also "makes economic sense" as beef is among the most expensive proteins.

"Venison is not a cheap meat but the price of beef is widely known. It is a double digit increase in the last 12 months ... and it is one of the things driving food price inflation," said Davies.

Imperial College London dropped beef from most of its canteens two years ago, replacing it with venison alongside chicken and pork.

Hospitals in East Lancashire and London's Guy's and St Thomas's have trialled similar menus, as have schools on Scotland's remote Islay and Jura islands.

But not everyone's convinced.

"The perspective of it being a reindeer, a Bambi, doesn't really appeal to people," admitted Atesh Luximon, executive head chef at Imperial.

Students are split. "I like it, it's an ethical meal," said Eric Hughet as he tucked into his venison curry.

Fellow student Shengjie Ma shrugged: "I prefer beef."

- 'Use whole animal' -

With no natural predators, deer can damage ecosystems.

But the venison market is saturated, warned Peter Windsor of the Irish Deer Society, which works to protect and maintain Ireland's wild deer herds.

"Clients would only use the best cuts, the rest goes to dog food," he said.

Levy UK says it aims to use the whole animal, turning lesser cuts into burgers, curries and pies.

But campaigners caution venison isn't the perfect solution to finding sustainable meat.

"Regeneratively farmed beef and culled deer can both be part of the solution -- if eaten in small quantities," said Phil Brooke, of animal welfare organisation Compassion in World Farming.

But he warned "deer alone would never be able to replace our demand for meat".

K.Torres--SFF