The deer industry is considering whether to have another go at marketing New Zealand venison in Europe under the name Cervena.
It's looking for a new approach to counter falling sales in its biggest export market, Germany, where New Zealand venison is under pressure from cheaper European venison coming from countries like Spain and Poland.
Cervena is an appellation for New Zealand farmed venison, developed about 20 years ago.
It's been used successfully in the United States, as well as New Zealand and Australia.
But Deer Industry New Zealand director, Glenn Tyrell from Silver Fern Farms, says there was resistance in Europe where the focus has always been on selling venison as game, rather than farmed meat.
He says European importers did not want to highlight the fact it was a farmed product or that the flavour of the farmed product was possibly milder.
