An amendment to the Animal Products Decree in connection with stricter regulations for hunters was published on 18 November 2024 and concerns the qualification for the health and hygiene of wild game. With this, the government ensures that the NVWA will have even more control over the food chain.

With the new rules, hunters get a registration duty and are required to attend refresher courses every four years, in particular to become more knowledgeable about the increasingly stringent Dutch food safety regulations. We have had the opportunity to experience what this has meant for raw milk, so we will probably go the same way for game.

Hunters conduct first visual inspection

Hunters assess shot game before it is marketed for human consumption. They carry out an initial visual inspection to check that the game is free of diseases or other health risks. As this inspection takes place immediately after the hunt, they must have sufficient knowledge to recognise risks in time. This prevents diseased or infected game meat from entering the food chain.

Risks in case of insufficient inspection:

• Zoonoses (diseases that pass from animals to humans) such as trichinella and avian flu.
• Parasites, infections or wounds that can cause inappropriate game meat.

Training for hunters

European legislation (Regulation 853/2004) states that a qualified person must have sufficient knowledge of:

• Wild game pathology (recognising diseases and abnormalities).
• The hygienic processing of game (prevention of contamination).
• Laws and regulations surrounding food safety.

In the Netherlands, this training is provided by the Stichting Jachtopleidingen Nederland (SJN). And because regulations around food safety are becoming increasingly stringent, especially in the Netherlands, qualified individuals must now retrain every four years to keep their knowledge up to date. The Netherlands has between 27,000 and 28,000 hunters, with a slight growth in the number of young and female hunters in recent years. So all of them will soon be required to register and take refresher courses to prepare them for the fact that they will soon be allowed to do less and less and that this will be strictly monitored.

New commitments

The new obligations for hunters are as follows:

1. Registration in a central register
   • Qualified persons must register in a register managed by the Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVWA).
   • Registration includes personal data such as name, date of birth, contact details and proof of training or further training taken.
   • Registration is mandatory for all hunters with the required knowledge and skills to assess game for food safety.
2. Periodic refresher training
   • Qualified persons must demonstrate every four years that they keep their knowledge and skills up-to-date by attending in-service training.
   • Further training can be taken online through the Stichting Jachtopleidingen Nederland (SJN), with additional practical workshops where necessary.
   • If a person does not attend in-service training or does not report it on the register, their registration may be revoked.
3. Verification of knowledge and skills
   • Upon registration, NVWA automatically checks whether the qualified person has completed the required training through a link with SJN.
   • Persons who have not received official training but have the required knowledge can register manually after approval by the NVWA.
4. Data processing and supervision
   • The register will be linked to the Basic Registration of Persons (BRP) to fill in data automatically.
   • Only authorised bodies such as NVWA and official veterinarians of the Benelux countries have access to the register for monitoring and control.
   • NVWA monitors and can take enforcement action if individuals fail to register or comply with requirements.

Source: https://zoek.officielebekendmakingen.nl/stb-2024-405.html