Training of hunters in health and hygiene

Persons who hunt wild game with a view to placing it on the market for human consumption must have sufficient knowledge of the pathology of wild game, and of the production and handling of wild game and wild game meat after hunting, to undertake an initial examination of wild game on the spot. Regulation (EC) No 853/2004 requires that a minimum of one person of a hunting team must have this knowledge.

This ‘trained person' could also be the gamekeeper or the game manager if he or she is part of the hunting team or located in the immediate vicinity of where hunting is taking place. In the latter case, the hunter must present the wild game to the gamekeeper or game manager and inform them of any abnormal behaviour observed before killing.

Training must be provided to the satisfaction of the competent authority to enable hunters to become trained persons. It should cover at least the following subjects:

• the normal anatomy, physiology and behaviour of wild game;
• abnormal behaviour and pathological changes in wild game due to diseases, environmental contamination or other factors which may affect human health after consumption;
• the hygiene rules and proper techniques for the handling, transportation, evisceration, etc., of wild game animals after killing;

    and

• legislation and administrative provisions on the animal and public health and hygiene conditions governing the placing on the market of wild game.