FOOD SECURITY for all

It is a known and often passionately debated fact that the relevant legislator (Departments of Agriculture and Health) in South Africa is to blame for the lack of a practical and executable legal guideline to promote game meat production. However, it is also a fact that the discovery and market application of this unique and healthy protein food materialised, undetected a few decades ago. In the current formal processed meat market, game meat is utilised extensively to add protein, colour and taste. In a recent meat sampling run executed by the Tshwane Meat Forum, it was discovered that a sample of boerewors meat with a legal requirement for its composition, consisted of 100% blue wildebeest meat – unfortunately rendering it non-compliant as the legal requirement compels it to be from only bovine, ovine, porcine and orcine.

The application of game meat is favourable for the meat industry and not based on its health benefits but the mere fact that it is a low-cost protein food source or additive for the formal meat processor. This unfortunate and ongoing scenario has caused the total collapse of a fair pricing structure for game carcasses. The fact that game carcasses are seldomly from an approved abattoir (with meat inspection for the crucial approval for safe human consumption) compelled it to take a backseat when good money is