Venison to replace beef at top London university

Imperial College London (ICL) has pledged to fully phase out beef and substitute it with wild venison by 2026. 

Despite the college reporting that culled venison emits only 27% of the CO2 emissions of beef, vegan students argue that the move is “not good enough” and suggest that ICL should take steps toward 100% plant-based menus. 

The Telegraph recently published statistics showing that roe deer created 0.6kg of CO2 per kilo of meat compared with 17.12kg of CO2 per kilo of meat for beef. And a report by Scottish Environment LINK claimed that Scotland’s red deer alone produced the equivalent of 137,000 tonnes of CO2 through methane each year. The report added “a 20% reduction in numbers would save the carbon equivalent of about 15 million car miles each year”. 

Shooting consultant and stalker Graham Downing said: “There needs to be much more use of wild venison by institutional catering of all sorts — and this is something the Government urgently needs to address. Development of strong and consistent demand for wild venison is the only way in which the necessary culling of the deer population can be achieved.” 

Eat Wild has contacted ICL to say “we can help educate the misinformed and hope they will embrace eating wild meat”.