Selling Meat

[justabloke 6]

I'm sure this question has been asked and answered on this forum many times but I can't find any posts - I'm new (and Australian).

What are the rules about selling excess kills (bunnies/pigeons) to game dealers or butchers/pubs? Do you need to be licensed to do it? 

I see the Gamekeepers Org runs a 1 day course for £120 dealing with the safe handling of game meat. Is this essential as they say it is.

There are a few pubs around me that often have game on the menu and I'd like to offload any I can't eat.

cheers

 

[Rabid 1,936]

12 hours ago, justabloke said:

I'm sure this question has been asked and answered on this forum many times but I can't find any posts - I'm new (and Australian).

What are the rules about selling excess kills (bunnies/pigeons) to game dealers or butchers/pubs? Do you need to be licensed to do it? 

I see the Gamekeepers Org runs a 1 day course for £120 dealing with the safe handling of game meat. Is this essential as they say it is.

There are a few pubs around me that often have game on the menu and I'd like to offload any I can't eat.

cheers

 

For game dealers and butchers I believe there are no laws or licences involved, I have sold rabbits for many years to butchers and never a problem, dealers take anything and everything in season, again no problem, I've never sold direct to pubs so not certain on that side of things.

[justabloke 6]

4 hours ago, Rabid said:

For game dealers and butchers I believe there are no laws or licences involved, I have sold rabbits for many years to butchers and never a problem, dealers take anything and everything in season, again no problem, I've never sold direct to pubs so not certain on that side of things.

I've seen conflicting advice on some other forums and BASC guidance doesn't seem clear. I'll talk to local butchers to see if they are happy to take them. Did you dress the rabbits first? Perhaps if you do any processing it creates a problem?

[Rabid 1,936]

My butchers want them gutted but in the jacket

[comanche 3,038]

As far as I know small(apparently "small" applies to any amount  you provide because in the great scheme of the meat industry game meat is a tiny percentage anyway) amounts of rabbits and game can go direct to local butchers,friends,family ,pubs etc. I think "local" is defined as something like 30 miles over the County border. Though you don't need a licence the game must still satisfy health and hygene requirements.

       The catch is that they must be in feather or in the case of rabbits they can be gutted but not skinned. Once you start skinning you become a food processor and are supposed to be registered as such and have suitable premises .

     Game entering the wider food chain such as by going through a Game Dealer's premises or other distribution centre   is supposed to be properly traceable and vetted by a qualified person in the field. Though some Dealers still seem less fussy about where their bunnies come from than they are about the  deer that go through their hands.

       The  NGO  course gives  you the required training to assess the quality of the game and handle it hygenically ,leading to a"qualification" allowing you to sell it into to the wider food chain than just direct to local consumers. Responsible hunters will already know about keeping game clean and cool but the instruction goes much further than that.Even without the Certificate of Competance/Trained Hunter ID card as bait , it is an interesting course in its own right because it covers everything from deer and boar to rooks and squirrels as well as legal requirements if you do go down the home-processing route. The instructor on my course also gave examples of dire instances when poor quality ,untraceable game has entered the food chain.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited June 10, 2018 by comanche

[justabloke 6]

On 10/06/2018 at 00:11, comanche said:

As far as I know small(apparently "small" applies to any amount  you provide because in the great scheme of the meat industry game meat is a tiny percentage anyway) amounts of rabbits and game can go direct to local butchers,friends,family ,pubs etc. I think "local" is defined as something like 30 miles over the County border. Though you don't need a licence the game must still satisfy health and hygene requirements.

       The catch is that they must be in feather or in the case of rabbits they can be gutted but not skinned. Once you start skinning you become a food processor and are supposed to be registered as such and have suitable premises .

     Game entering the wider food chain such as by going through a Game Dealer's premises or other distribution centre   is supposed to be properly traceable and vetted by a qualified person in the field. Though some Dealers still seem less fussy about where their bunnies come from than they are about the  deer that go through their hands.

       The  NGO  course gives  you the required training to assess the quality of the game and handle it hygenically ,leading to a"qualification" allowing you to sell it into to the wider food chain than just direct to local consumers. Responsible hunters will already know about keeping game clean and cool but the instruction goes much further than that.Even without the Certificate of Competance/Trained Hunter ID card as bait , it is an interesting course in its own right because it covers everything from deer and boar to rooks and squirrels as well as legal requirements if you do go down the home-processing route. The instructor on my course also gave examples of dire instances when poor quality ,untraceable game has entered the food chain.

 

 

 

 

 

On 10/06/2018 at 00:11, comanche said:

 

 

 

Edited July 5, 2018 by justabloke

[justabloke 6]

OK, so I checked with my butcher today and they will take them as long as they are fully prepared. They aren't permitted to do any butchering of game on their premises. So I'll just squeeze gut, skin, remove head and limbs and wash them. Check the liver and then deliver - see how clever that was. Not much money in them although they reckon some older folk will really go for them so demand might pick up. I'm going to swap them for some dog food and other bits and pieces.

[Rabid 1,936]

On 05/07/2018 at 16:37, justabloke said:

OK, so I checked with my butcher today and they will take them as long as they are fully prepared. They aren't permitted to do any butchering of game on their premises. So I'll just squeeze gut, skin, remove head and limbs and wash them. Check the liver and then deliver - see how clever that was. Not much money in them although they reckon some older folk will really go for them so demand might pick up. I'm going to swap them for some dog food and other bits and pieces.

So you will be classed as a processor and be registered with your local council and have the premises inspected and signed off  ?

[justabloke 6]

16 hours ago, Rabid said:

So you will be classed as a processor and be registered with your local council and have the premises inspected and signed off  ?

Urgghhh! I wish this was straightforward..... I've sent a question to the butcher concerned and also to a localish game dealer. There is so much conflicting opinion and advice. Perhaps I'll stick with donating everything to the bird of prey centre and zoo.

Thanks for keeping me honest on this.

[Rabid 1,936]

28 minutes ago, justabloke said:

Urgghhh! I wish this was straightforward..... I've sent a question to the butcher concerned and also to a localish game dealer. There is so much conflicting opinion and advice. Perhaps I'll stick with donating everything to the bird of prey centre and zoo.

Thanks for keeping me honest on this.

It's simple mate, you can gut rabbits but nothing else to them and your not processing your field dressing, the butcher hangs them in the window in the jacket, sells them that way, most of the folk who buy rabbits want them that way anyhow, all my local butchers sell them like this, not fully dressed, the buyers will mostly be the older generation who are more than capable and happy/want to dress them, it also helps sales hanging in the jacket as the ones who don't do much in the butchers will see them hanging and say, oooh Mavis, look Joe the butcher has rabbits, we used to live on them, am gonna get a couple so me an Fred can have rabbit stew agin.......

 

''If the butcher gets asked for dressed rabbits then he can send them your way on the quiet, then your just prepping a rabbit for a friend, or more likely the butcher will do it on the quiet for them.

[justabloke 6]

30 minutes ago, Rabid said:

It's simple mate, you can gut rabbits but nothing else to them and your not processing your field dressing, the butcher hangs them in the window in the jacket, sells them that way, most of the folk who buy rabbits want them that way anyhow, all my local butchers sell them like this, not fully dressed, the buyers will mostly be the older generation who are more than capable and happy/want to dress them, it also helps sales hanging in the jacket as the ones who don't do much in the butchers will see them hanging and say, oooh Mavis, look Joe the butcher has rabbits, we used to live on them, am gonna get a couple so me an Fred can have rabbit stew agin.......

 

''If the butcher gets asked for dressed rabbits then he can send them your way on the quiet, then your just prepping a rabbit for a friend, or more likely the butcher will do it on the quiet for them.

Brilliant. I'll check back in with them next time I'm in town. Does sound very simple. Now watch someone stuff it up.....

Thanks again.

Brad C

[The one 8,487]

You need a butcher who has a game licence and he can skin them himself mate , a game dealer will take any amount off you but not pay much where a good butcher will pay more but no take any amount off you  thats the way it works here 

When we did it serious after a  weekend on the rabbits  they would go to the game dealers on a Monday morning he would class them large , medium and small we would take the small ones back to the butchers who paided better for them