2nd General Meeting of the Action CA22166 – SAFETY IN THE GAME MEAT CHAIN

2nd General Meeting of the Action
CA22166 – SAFETY IN THE GAME MEAT CHAIN [SafeGameMeat]
Dates: 09.-10 June 2026, 11:30 – 13:30 (CET)
Action overview
With an estimated seven million hunters in the EU alone, hunting is a popular activity in most European countries. However, scientific knowledge regarding the food safety of game meat and the production chain in Europe is limited. Although the game meat market is small compared to the livestock meat market, a notification is issued almost monthly in the European Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed.
The COST Action “Safety in the Game Meat Chain” promotes the strengthening and harmonisation of food safety standards in a growing European game meat market by enabling the exchange of experi-ences and concepts through networking, applying a transnational and multidisciplinary One-Health approach. The network consists of all relevant stakeholders along the game meat chain, and investi-gates differences and similarities in hunting practices, education, game meat processing and inspec-tion, trading, legislation and consumption across European countries, examining all stages of the sup-ply chain from wild animal to consumer — "from forest to fork". Particular focus is given to identifying and assessing known and emerging chemical and biological risks of regional, national or global im-portance that pose a hazard to human health associated with consuming game meat.
Programm of the General Meeting
Venue: Spiru Haret University
(Strada Ion Ghica 13, Bucharest, Romania) & online
meeting Link: https://meet.google.com/gdx-snss-pmk
Thuesday, 09th June
11:30
Core Group Meeting
12:00
Registration
13:00
Welcome and opening
Session 1: Hunting and Processing
13:30
Get an inside into Working Group 1 activities
Arja Helena Kautto, Sweden
13:45
The hunting sector and game meat chain in Bosnia and Herzegovina: current state and challenges
Miroslav Urosevic, Serbia
14:00
Large game meat supply chains outside EU hygiene regulations: a pilot study on hunters’ practices
Maria Francesca Peruzy, Italy
14:15
A HACCP-One Health framework for estimating and managing food safety risk in game meat supply chains: Insights from Zambia
Batsirai Alexander Mukanganwa, Zambia (online)
14:30
Communal hunting and zoonotic risk in northern Ghana: A One Health perspective
Haruna Abukari, Ghana
14:45
Break Time to talk in corridors
Session 2: Chemical Hazards
15:15
Get an inside into Working Group 3 activities
Rafael Mateo, Spain
15:30
Landscape- and diet-related patterns of trace element accumulation in wild boar livers from Brandenburg, Germany: a preliminary study
Maciej Durkalec, Poland
15:45
Lead Contamination in Game Meat: A Systematic Review of Ammunition-Derived Exposure
Eugenio Demartini (for Amanda Moretti, Italy)
16:00
Barriers and Opportunities in the Transition to Lead-Free Ammunition: Evidence from Italian Hunters
Eugenio Demartini, Italy
16:15
Hidden Contaminants in Wild Boars: Caesium-137 in Meat and Strontium-90 in Bones
Malgorzata Warenik-Bany, Poland
16:30
Human exposure to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) via consumption of meat and offal from game animals in Germany
Anneluise Mader, Germany
16:45 – 18:00
Dissemination incl. Poster Pitch
19:00
Dinner
Wednesday, 10th June
Session 3: Trade Networks and Supply Chains
09:00
Get an inside into Working Group 2 activities
Eugenio Demartini, Italy
09:15
Bridging the Gap: Integrating One Health and the Ecosystem Approach within the Global Biodiversity Framework for Safe Game Meat Systems
Simon Nemtzov, Israel
09:30
Fragmented Systems, Shared Risks: A One Health Analysis of Expert Perspectives on South Africa’s Game Meat Sector
Lydia Daring Bhebe, South Africa
09:45
Trends in meat consumption, and consumer attitudes and preferences towards game meat in the Czech Republic
Daniel Bures, Czechia
10:00
Break Time to talk in corridors
Session 4: Biological Hazards
10:30
Get an inside into Working Group 4
Gunita Deksne, Latvia
10:45
Vector-borne parasitic diseases emerged in Fenno-Scandinavian cervids; a thread to Arctic food safety and security
Sauli Laaksonen, Finland
11:00
Regulatory and Practical Variability in Trichinella Testing of Wild Boar Meat intended for Private Consumption in Europe
Madalena Vieira-Pinto, Portugal
11:15
High seroprevalence of Toxoplasma gondii infection in wild boars hunted for human consumption in Italy
Luca Villa, Italy
11:30
Staphylococcus aureus at the wildlife–livestock interface: Occurrence and genomic insights from Northern German game species
Rafael Mateus Vargas, Germany
11:45
Preliminary evidence of Cryptosporidium spp. circulation in wild boars in Portuguese hunting areas: a brief alert study
Ana Carolina Abrantes, Portugal
12:00
Epidemiological Analysis and Reflection on African Swine Fever in Wild Boar (2022–2025) and Implications for Safe Game Meat
Simovikj Milenko, North Macedonia
12:15
Sum-up, Poster prize
ACTIVITY TIME – QUESTIONNAIRE, IDEAS FOR FURTHER PUBLICATIONS, IDEAS FOR FINAL CONFERENCE?... FOTO
13:30
End of the Conference