Engadine deer salsiz sometimes comes from New Zealand.Image: watson/carlo natter
More than half of a sausage bought in the Engadine consists of New Zealand deer meat. While the master butcher defends this approach, the Federal Office of Agriculture says: It doesn’t work that way.
June 21, 2026, 04:55June 21, 2026, 04:55
Anyone who buys a deer salsiz from a butcher shop in the Engadine probably has a romantic image in mind. A Graubünden hunter roams the mountains, patiently following the game.
From years of experience, the hunter knows the preferred paths of deer, roe deer and chamois. There he lies on the prowl. Once he has killed a deer, he takes it to the village butcher himself.
Hampi Hitz hunting in Malans in September 2020: This is how you imagine a Graubünden hunter.Image: KEYSTONE
So much for the mental picture. It doesn’t always have anything to do with reality.
For example, with the deer salsiz from Berni’s Metzg in Zuoz, which the father of a Watson journalist recently received as a souvenir. It consists of 51 percent deer meat. This comes from New Zealand.
It’s about this sausage: Engadin specialty with over 50 percent New Zealand meat.Image: Watson
Instead of coming from the pine forest around the corner, it comes from an industrial deer farm on the other side of the world.
Nevertheless, the product says in bold letters: “Swiss product”. Isn’t this customer deception?
Finally, master butcher Bernhard Locher promises on his butcher’s website: “For years I have been paying full attention to the keeping of animals, their food and also short transport routes.”
Deer meat from New Zealand is not necessarily what you imagine when it comes to short transport routes. Locher also admits this to Watson, but also says: “We don’t produce enough deer meat in Switzerland to be able to produce deer salsiz all year round.” That’s why Locher, who has been working as a butcher for over 30 years, thinks:
“But because people want to eat venison salsiz all year round, we have no choice but to buy in.”
Master butcher Bernhard Locher
Locher says that from the start of the Graubünden high hunt, which starts on September 3rd this year, he can use Graubünden deer meat for his salsize until December. After that, he uses New Zealand meat.
Three Graubünden hunters kill a deer in Klosters during a high hunt.Image: KEYSTONE
In fact, Swiss production of deer meat does not meet the demand for it. Last year there were 1,578 tonnes of domestic deer meat compared to 2,301 tonnes of imported meat. In other words: Switzerland can only satisfy almost 41 percent of its demand for deer from domestic production.
11.2 percent of deer meat imports – or 266 tonnes in absolute terms – came from New Zealand last year.
Deer meat from New Zealand
Deer are not native to New Zealand. It was British colonialists who brought the animals there in the 19th century. Without natural predators, the deer multiplied unchecked, which is why they soon became a nuisance and the government declared them an invasive species in 1932. In the 1960s, the government introduced bounties for every deer shot. This also marks the birth of an important economic sector for New Zealand.
In 2019 there were 1.2 million deer for every 4.4 million residents. New Zealand exported deer meat worth 205 million New Zealand dollars to the world in 2024, of which meat worth 4.08 million New Zealand dollars went to Switzerland. This makes Switzerland one of the most important sales markets for New Zealand deer.
image: www.imago-images.de
What do the people who breed deer in Switzerland say about the fact that an Engadine butcher sausages New Zealand deer for his salsiz?
Sabina Graf is managing director of the Swiss Deer Keepers Association. She says that Swiss deer farmers can usually sell their meat without any problems. The origin of the meat also plays a role: “The customers who buy directly from the deer farmer are people for whom the origin, regionality and traceability of the product are important,” says Graf.
“Customers want to know how and where the animal whose meat they eat lived.”
Sabina Graf, Managing Director of the Swiss Deer Keepers Association
In 2025, there were 316 farms in Switzerland with almost 12,500 deer living on them. The most current figures on how large the number of deer shot in the wild compared to those kept in enclosures come from 2020. At that time, 89 percent of domestic deer meat came from hunting and 11 percent from enclosures.
A small part of Swiss deer meat production also comes from animals in captivity.Image: KEYSTONE
A deer farmer comments to Watson about deer meat from New Zealand. He runs a business with around 100 deer and is involved with the Deer Keepers Association in training farmers who want to keep deer. He would like to remain anonymous.
The breeder has a clear opinion on butcher shops that declare deer sausages as a Swiss product, even though the deer meat is imported from New Zealand: “That’s a mess.”
He does not accept the argument that due to the high demand there is no other option than to import meat. The breeder, who sells his deer meat exclusively himself, says:
“When the season is over and I have no more game meat, I won’t be able to buy any sausages anymore.”
Deer breeder
Locher from Berni’s Metzg in Zuoz defends his actions. The sausage, as he declares it, has been certified by the Swiss Meat Association. He is allowed to sell this Salsiz as a Swiss product because he made it entirely in Switzerland, says Locher.
“After all, beef from South America that was then dried in Graubünden can also be called Bündnerfleisch.”
Bernhard Locher
The Federal Office of Agriculture (BLW) sees it differently. At watson’s request, spokeswoman Sarah Kehrli refers to Article 48b of the Trademark Protection Act, also known as the Swissness article.
Coveted Swiss cross: If you want to put it on your food, you have to follow strict rules.Image: KEYSTONE
Since January 1, 2017, this has bindingly regulated what a food must fulfill in order for it to be able to be described as being of Swiss origin. The two most important rules are:
At least 80 percent of the raw materials in the food must come from Switzerland. And the processing must have taken place in Switzerland.
The BLW is of the opinion that the designation Swiss product on the deer salsize label is a Swiss indication of origin, which is why the Swissness regulation applies.
The first condition is not fulfilled in the case of the deer salsize. Kehrli writes:
“Therefore, in our interpretation, a Swiss indication of origin is not permitted.”
Sarah Kehrli, spokesperson BLW
watson asked the Swiss Meat Association (SFF) what they thought about how the deer salsiz is written. The labeling is “largely OK,” the SFF said in writing.
However, there is a need for optimization when it comes to the term “Swiss product”. “We recommend the wording: ‘Made in Switzerland with origins deer New Zealand, pork/bacon Switzerland’,” says deputy managing director Philipp Sax.
The SFF will now talk to Bernhard Locher from Berni’s Metzg in Zuoz.
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Video: Watson/Lucas Zollinger