Animal rights activists have called on the NHS to remove game meat from its menus, just months after British Game Assurance revealed it had been successfully introduced.

In a national newspaper story, PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) compared venison on a hospital menu to giving out cigarettes because eating saturated fat is, the organisations claims, as bad as smoking.

BGA chief executive Liam Stokes said: “This is mad, and not only because venison contains around 75 per cent less saturated fat than beef. Venison is such a lean, healthy meat. It tastes amazing and just might brighten a hospital patient’s day. It is supremely sustainable.

“Wild venison results from deer management, management that will happen regardless of who eats what, because deer need management for their own welfare and for the protection of habitats. We are engaged in a global effort to plant trees to soak up carbon and mitigate climate change, and this effort can only succeed if deer populations are sensitively managed.

“It would be a crime not to eat the meat derived from that management. Not just in restaurants but in our homes and, yes, in our hospitals. Everyone should have access to this wild harvest.

“BGA will continue to work with business and government procurement to push access to game, both fur and feather as widely as possible.”