Waitrose still selling gamebirds contaminated with toxic lead shot, despite telling customers it only stocks lead-free gamebirds

Lead is a poison and has been removed from many formerly common uses such as for water pipes and fishing weights, and in petrol and paints. But it is still legal to use lead ammunition to shoot gamebirds in the UK such as Pheasant, Red-legged Partridge, Grey Partridge and Red Grouse. Maximum lead levels are set for meats such as beef, pork, chicken etc. but not, utterly bizarrely, for game meat. The maximum legal lead level for most meats (other than gamebirds) in the UK is 0.1mg of lead per kg of meat, measured as wet weight (ww).

Following widespread public health and environmental concerns, in July 2019 Waitrose announced that by the 2020/21 shooting season it would only stock lead-free gamebirds. However, it didn’t manage to achieve this and blamed the Coronavirus pandemic for affecting availability.

In 2020, Waitrose made a further commitment and stated, “We are now pledging that by season 2021/22 all Waitrose & Partners game will be brought to bag without the use of lead ammunition” (see here) However, Wild Justice tests revealed Waitrose was indeed still selling game meat contaminated with high levels of lead in the 2021/22 season. Waitrose argued, entirely unconvincingly, that the affected birds must have acquired the lead from the environment (i.e. they’d eaten the lead) “because we have eliminated lead shot from our supply chain” (see here).

Waitrose didn’t appear to sell any game meat during the 2022/23 season but in January 2024 game meat was once again being stocked on its shelves so naturally we were keen to test it for lead content.

We bought ten Pheasant breasts, ten Partridge breasts, ten game casseroles (a mixture of venison, Pheasant, Partridge and duck) and ten whole Pheasants topped with bacon from Waitrose stores in Lichfield, Sandbach, Northwich, Uttoxeter and Cheadle All these products were marketed under Waitrose’s ‘No.1, the very best’ range.

We didn’t find any health warnings about consuming lead-contaminated meat on the game meat packaging or on in-store labels. Prior to its commitment to go lead-free, Waitrose game meat carried public health warnings.

The samples were all tested for lead levels by experts at the same laboratory that has tested all our samples in previous years, at the Environmental Research Institute, University of the Highlands and Islands, Thurso.

One of ten Pheasant breasts, three of ten Partridge breasts, six of ten whole Pheasants and nine of ten game casseroles contained high levels of lead exceeding the maximum legal limit in non-game meat – some of the levels were very high.

Fig 1: Levels of lead found in various gamebird products sold by Waitrose in January 2024

The median lead level for the 10 Pheasant breast samples was undetectable and the highest level was 3.53 mg/kg ww Pb, over 35 times the maximum for lead in non-game meat.

For the 10 Partridge breasts the median lead level was 0.06 mg/kg ww Pb, below the maximum for lead in non-game meat, and the highest level was 1.5 mg/kg ww Pb, some 15 times the maximum for lead in non-game meat.

For the 10 game casseroles the median lead level was 0.68 mg/kg ww Pb, nearly 7 times the maximum for lead in non-game meat, and the highest level was 6.59 mg/kg ww Pb, over 65 times the maximum for lead in non-game meat.

The median lead level for the 10 whole Pheasant samples was 0.19 mg/kg ww Pb, almost twice the maximum for lead in non-game meat, and the highest level was 1.38 mg/kg ww Pb, just under 14 times the maximum for lead in non-game meat.

Four of the ten whole Pheasants contained shot (which was removed prior to testing the meat). These four pieces of shot were chemically analysed and were found to be lead shot.

Lead is a poison. Some of these lead levels found in all four of the game meat products sold by Waitrose as part of its ‘No.1, the very best’ range would be illegal in other meats.

There is evidence that Waitrose has tried to move towards lead-free game meat (although little evidence for its game casseroles) but nevertheless it is still not adhering to its trading statement that it no longer sells game meat that has been killed with lead ammunition, nor does it appear to be undertaking independent testing to substantiate its claimed environmental credentials. That should be deeply concerning to Waitrose customers and of significant interest to the regulating trade authority.