The status of hygiene of shot mallards

67 mallards (Anas platyrhynchos platyrhynchos L.), shot along a stretch of the Lower Rine, were taken as the basis to assess their hygienic quality and parameters of meat quality as stipulated by law. Legal conditions on meat hygiene for domestic animals to be slaughtered were taken into account. The guideline 92/45 of the EU-Council, which has so far not been converted into national law, subsumes ''game birds'' under the term ''small wild animals''. The bill on the new poultry hygiene law (Federal Printed Matter 13/118) uses the term ''game birds''. It is to be differentiated from ''breeding birds'' which, according to guideline 91/495 of the EU-Council, are wild birds bred, kept and killed in captivity. When the guideline is converted into national law the traditional term ''table poultry'' will be extended to take in such kinds of wild birds. The germ counts found within the framework of bacteriological tests are to be understood in connection with peculiarities of hunting, for example follow-up searches or shots into the gut. Besides careful handling of this high- quality foodstuff, adequate heating during preparation is therefore essential. In addition, training for young hunters as well as further training in meat hygiene areas should be intensified. One duck showed evidence of Salmonella typhimurium; other pathogenic germs could not be detected. From a parasitological point of view a low-grade infestation with feather lice should be mentioned. Due to financial reasons the number of mallards to be used for a random sample was reduced to 15. The contents of pesticides found in the samples of the fatty tissue was low. However, two ducks considerably exceeded the maximum permissable level of chlorinated hydrocarbons HCB and several DDT isomeres. Four ducks exceeded the maximum permissable level of PCB. 11.3 % of the ducks (n = 53) had lead shots in their muscular stomachs, a proportion which is quite remarkable. There was only a small burden on the musculature with radioactive isotopes 134Cs and 137Cs. The mallards examined showed pH45 and pHUlt to vary at the time of measurement which corresponds to a critical assessment by literature of the development of ph-values in poultry. However, the venison is not prone to develop PSE meat.