LEDBURY Food Group has flagged up growing concerns about the use of toxic lead shot in the killing of game.

The group says Government advice is currently “confusing”.

A Food Group spokesman said: “We live in a part of the country where game of all kinds – deer, wild boar, pheasant, partridge and so on – is readily available through butchers and game dealers, especially at this time of year.

A topic that is growing in weight in the media is the use of toxic lead shot to bag game. In July, Waitrose announced that from the 2020-21 season it will ban the sale in its stores of birds shot with lead ammunition.

“Government advice on this topic is currently confusing. Advice in 2015 from the government’s Lead Ammunition Group to consider introduction of a ban on lead ammunition was turned aside by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.”