Possum panic nothing to kick up a fuss about: food safety body

Proposed amendments to the South Australian Food Standard Code could see an array of game meat previously excluded from the legal consumption list find its way onto menus across the state.

Light snack? Brush-tail possum. Source: AAP

While goat, rabbit, hare, kangaroo and wallaby are all currently legal to slaughter, sell and consume in SA, the changes would see that buffalo, camel, deer, donkey, horse, kangaroo, rabbit, possum or wallaby killed in the wild would also become legal to eat.

The move has prompted outrage from animal welfare groups.

“The newly proposed game industries are particularly obnoxious because they produce meats that people don’t even like,” Convenor of the Animal Justice Party South Australia Geoff Russell said.

However the proposal is simply an administrative change that brings South Australia into line with the national standard, SA Health spokeswoman Janet Pretsell said.

“We are updating the Food Regulations 2002 to align them with the national Food Standards Code which defines game meat,” she said.

“While the proposed game meats will be permitted to be sold for consumption in SA, the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1972 restricts protected species from culling, and the harvesting of these animals is only permissible under permit.

“Any South Australians wanting to hunt protected species in SA would need a permit as per the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1972 legislation.”

But Russell said managing the ethical slaughter of these animals would be difficult.

"There are very few studies of the wounding and crippling involved in these activities for obvious reasons.

"These kinds of killing industries ... hate scrutiny and we have a government who is happy to oblige," he said.

After nearly two years of consultation, Australia’s peak food safety body in 2015 introduced revised guidelines on minor meats. The guidelines were expanded to include the game meats SA is now considering, however states and territories choose how to enact the updated standards.

“What were gazetted [in 2015] were new standards around food safety … [it appears] South Australia has decided to go out and consult further,” Food Standards Australia New Zealand spokeswoman Lorraine Haase said.

The consultation period for the proposed amendments to South Australia’s Food Standard code is open until February, which any new standards expected to be implemented in September 2017.