The Countryside Alliance has commissioned a poll that shows the vast majority of people have never bought game meat in the shops.
The polling was undertaken by ORB International on behalf of the Alliance, and found that 85% of people have never bought pheasant or partridge to cook at home.However the poll suggests they are not averse to trying game meat if the marketing could be optimised.
When the 85% of people were asked to name the three reasons they never bought game, only 14% said it was because they opposed game shooting, while 7% said they don’t eat game because of lead, making it the least common answer.
The results also show that 35% think game is ‘not their kind of food’, 31% have never even considered eating game, 27% have never seen it on offer where they shop, 18% think it is too expensive and 17% don’t eat game because they don’t know how to cook it.
It is suggested that all of these objections can be tackled through effective promotion, marketing and efficiencies in the supply chain.
Countryside Alliance’s head of shooting, Liam Stokes, said: “This polling shows the enormous potential market for game meat. 85% of people are not buying game to cook at home, but the vast majority of these people are ready to be convinced to give game a try!
“We need a professional, industry-driven marketing board to get out there and help people realise that game is for everyone, to help get game on the shelves at a reasonable price and to show people how to cook it.”
To help promote the consumption of game, the British Game Alliance (BGA), has been formed to act as the official marketing board for game meat. A not-for-profit organisation, the BGA launched in mid-April and will act on behalf of the shooting community’s best interest.
Stokes concluded: “Imagine what we can achieve if we can motivate the remaining 85%!”
This story was originally published on a previous version of the Meat Management website and so there may be some missing images and formatting issues.
