Fine game
There are 2.263 kilos of fine game meat - with a commercial value of around 45.000 euros - donated to Food bank to charity from the Cls-Game processing centers from July 2021 to today. The new public notice is currently active, opened at the beginning of November, which will lead to a new phase of this project, further increasing this result. Seven processing centers have joined the new notice. The results obtained to date and the new tender were illustrated by the vice-president of the Tuscany Region and regional councilor for agriculture Stefania Saccardi, by the regional councilor for health Simone Bezzini, by Piero Ranfagni representing the Food Bank and by Roberto Vivarelli president of 'Territorial hunting area of Siena representing all Tuscan ATCs.
The Region's investment
“We are pleased – said Saccardi – to have started a virtuous circle which, with a regional investment of around 8000 euros, has brought noble meat worth over 5 times more to the Food Bank, and therefore to the tables of less well-off families. superior. With the new tender this investment will be greatly enhanced, given that from the experimental phase, which among other things coincided with the management of the pandemic, we move on to a more structured and better organized phase". “This is a project that has value from both an environmental and social point of view – adds Saccardi – which I strongly wanted when I was responsible for regional health and which I am still proud to support today because it allows a socially useful use of the meat of wild boars killed in the containment beats. It is a way to deal with the ungulate emergency and at the same time offer a product with high nutritional value to people who would otherwise be unlikely to purchase it at a normal market price. I thank the Food Bank and the Caritas network who, with their work, ensure that this game materially reaches the tables of the neediest families."
Food safety
“This is an initiative that also has great value for food safety – added the regional health councilor Simone Bezzini – because it also allows us to effectively monitor the health of game. The importance of this announcement for families in difficulty is undoubted, but given my delegation I also appreciate its hygienic-sanitary usefulness, as the control of the meat of ungulates killed for numerical control purposes allows us to understand how the wild animals and to monitor the possible presence of pathogens. In fact, before being distributed, the meat is inspected in the game processing centers by the local health authority veterinarians, called upon to conduct a direct action of prevention and early detection of any diseases that may affect wildlife, and thus guaranteeing the user a product of quality that complies with food safety standards. Thanks are due to the professionals of the local health authorities and to the food bank which, with its infrastructure and distribution network, allows us to help people in disadvantaged or marginalized conditions".
A gift for those in difficulty
“Thanks to this project, the meat of ungulates killed in the containment campaigns can be donated to those who can almost never eat meat – explained Ranfagni of the Food Bank – Thanks to the Tuscan regional legislation this is possible, while I have received news that in other in reality the carcasses of healthy animals, killed in the countryside to reduce the number of wild ungulates, were burned because the administrative context necessary to use them was lacking. This is a waste, while the project we are carrying out in Tuscany is positive because it goes 'against waste and against hunger', as the Food Bank's slogan itself states”. “All fifteen Tuscan ATCs can and must contribute to this beautiful initiative, to help those who are really in need – added Vivarelli, president of the Siena ATC – In all of Tuscany around 80.000 wild boars are killed every year, so I find it more than fair that some of the quintals of meat obtained from them goes to alleviate the suffering of those who have difficulty in purchasing meat to eat in their daily lives".
The animals coming from the hunting activity
The public notice for the distribution of ungulate meat to the Food Bank has been published on the institutional websites of the Tuscan local health authorities and the lists of subjects suitable for the full operation of the initiative are being defined. With resolution 961/2023, the Region has provided for the provision of reimbursements to the CLS for costs incurred through the local health authorities, recipients for the 2023/2024 hunting year (until 31 May) of a total loan of 40 thousand euros: 18.000 to the local health authority Southeast; 11.000 to the North West; and as many 11.000 at the Center. Animals from the regulated hunting and control activities of third parties such as regional park authorities, wild boar hunting teams, ungulate management districts, Afv (wildlife hunting companies) and Aav (agritourism hunting companies) may also be sent to the Food Bank. ). The processed carcasses will be entrusted for distribution to the Tuscany Food Bank, which is equipped with a specific and peculiar organization and territorial network that allows the conservation of the meat, guaranteeing compliance with food safety objectives and their distribution. (Source TUSCANY REGION)