Collect accessions for the processing of meat of wild ungulates destined for charity, thanks to the subsequent distribution by the Food Bank. This is the objective of the public notice available on the institutional sites of the Tuscan ASL and intended for Game processing centers (Cls), which will then be able to start the path to the sale of meat from wild ungulates to charity killed as part of the regional control plans. With its own resolution - 1147 of 2020 - the Tuscany Region has provided for the reimbursement of the costs incurred by the Cls through the Local Health Authorities, recipients for the year 2021 of a total loan of 60 thousand euros: 25 thousand to the South East Local Health Authority; 17.500 to the North West; and as many 17.500 to the Center.
"With the publication of the notice - affirms the councilor for health, Simone Bezzini - we are now entering the operational phase of this initiative which we hope will bring, in this period of health emergency with serious economic repercussions, some relief in life of the families most in difficulty. I think it is important to point out like this solidarity project, which was born in collaboration with the Department of Agriculture, Hunting and Fishing and with the territorial areas of Tuscan hunting, has multiple positive effects, enhancing game meat not only from an economic point of view but also from an ethical and social point of view, guaranteeing the final user a quality product that complies with food safety standards.
And all this by actively involving the hunting world. I would like to thank our management and the Tuscan ASL which, despite such a complex and demanding moment, have nevertheless made it possible to implement our resolution. As a thank you to the Food Bank that with its infrastructures and distribution network allows us, not only for this initiative, to intercept and support the essential needs of people in disadvantaged or marginalized conditions. " “This project, - says the vice president and councilor for agri-food Stephanie Saccardi - which I baptized when I was responsible for regional health, allows a socially useful use of the meat of the slaughtered wild boars.
It gives us the opportunity to partially cope with the ungulate emergency and at the same time to distribute a high nutritional value product such as meat to people in food difficulty. in this case of wild boar. The initiative is part of a circular economy perspective, which makes it possible to optimize the resources of our territory with an objective that is not only environmental but social ". The meat will derive from a quota of the animals slaughtered according to the procedures established by regional legislation and that the ATCs will decide to allocate to the food charity initiative. In addition, the sale of heads from hunting and regulated control activities is also envisaged by third parties: regional park bodies, wild boar hunting teams, ungulate management districts, AFV and AAV.
The processed carcasses will be entrusted for distribution to Food Bank of Tuscany, which is equipped with a specific and peculiar organization and territorial network that allows the preservation of meat ensuring compliance with food safety objectives and their distribution in order to support essential needs of families and of the Tuscan communities.