Overview
Lead concentrations in raw minced pheasant dogfood purchased from three UK online retailers in 2022 were dramatically elevated, with a weighted mean of 220.99 ppm dry weight (d.w.) across 81 samples known or assumed to be shot-free — 34 times higher than the mean in pheasant meat sold for human consumption (6.46 ppm d.w.) over the same shooting seasons. A total of 77% of raw pheasant dogfood samples exceeded the EU maximum residue level (MRL) for lead in animal feed (11.36 ppm d.w. for complementary/animal feed; 5.68 ppm d.w. for complete feed). Processed tinned pheasant dogfood (0.65 ppm d.w.) and chicken-based products (0.09–0.46 ppm d.w.) did not exceed the MRL, consistent with processing removing or distributing lead fragments from ammunition.
Key numbers
Dogfood products analysed: 8 product types, n = 193 packages total. Raw pheasant products (n = 90 packages from three products): weighted mean Pb 220.99 ppm d.w. (95% CI 78.84–421.14 ppm d.w.) in shot-free samples; full-sample mean including shot-contaminated packages was 1,159.92 ppm d.w. (SE 379.52). Dried pheasant/partridge sticks (n = 30): mean 30.79 ppm d.w. Processed tinned pheasant/goose (n = 30): mean 0.65 ppm d.w. Raw chicken (n = 12): mean 0.09 ppm d.w.
EU MRL exceedance rates: 66.7% (PM1), 63.3% (PM2), 100% (PM3) for three raw pheasant products; 0% for processed tinned pheasant or any chicken product.
Pheasant meat for human consumption (n = 74 samples, three UK retailers): mean 6.46 ppm d.w.; 69% exceeded the EU MRL for domestic animal muscle (0.307 ppm d.w. equivalent).
Radio-dense objects detected by X-ray in 86.7% (PM1), 73.3% (PM2), 100% (PM3) of raw pheasant packages. 10% of raw pheasant samples contained embedded shot at the point of analysis even after macroscopic removal attempts.
Analysis by ICP-OES (Agilent 5900); LOD 0.180 ppm d.w. (0.058 ppm w.w.). Moisture factor: 1 ppm w.w. = approximately 2.76 ppm d.w. for raw pheasant products.
Methods (brief)
Subsamples (~30 g pooled from 6 random positions per package) were macroscopically cleared of visible shot, dried to constant mass, milled, and digested in nitric acid before ICP-OES analysis. Products tested included three raw pheasant products, one dried pheasant/partridge product, two processed (tinned/pouched) products, and three chicken-based products for comparison. Two-dimensional X-ray imaging preceded chemical analysis to count whole shot and fragments. A two-group log-normal model was applied to account for bimodal lead distributions in raw products caused by shot-containing outliers.
Implications
Certification: Directly relevant to HMT&C scope for pet food categories; establishes that lead contamination from ammunition in raw game pet food reaches concentrations 20–200x above regulated limits for domestic animal meat sold for human consumption. The processing step (tinning/pasteurisation) eliminates the contamination signal, which is important context for supply-chain risk assessment of processed vs. raw animal proteins.
Courses: Illustrates the ammunition-to-food-chain pathway for lead as a mechanism distinct from soil or industrial contamination. Relevant for modules on game meat as a dietary lead exposure route.
App: Not directly applicable (pet food excluded from app scope), but informs game-meat contamination profiles relevant to any ingredient-mapping logic covering pheasant or wild game.
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Update history
The five most recent substantive edits to this page, classified major (evidence or structure moved), correction (a published value or statement was wrong and has been fixed), or minor (narrative rewritten without changing the underlying evidence). Each description is derived from what the edit did to this page; the linked commit is the authoritative record, routine regeneration passes are excluded, and the full version history lives in git. When DOI minting comes online (see schema docs), each entry below will also link to a version-pinned DataCite DOI.
| Commit | Date | Change | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| a8052bb | 2026-08-09 | major | 6 sections added; narrative text revised |