Your game chamber in summer: heat, load and failures in view.

By Frigo · Updated: October 2026

In summer you have less time. The carcass is warm, it is hot outside, and your walk-in chiller has to work harder than in autumn. This guide shows what authorities and hunting associations recommend for cooling in summer, where the game chamber reaches its limits and what you can check. Pick your country and you see only what applies to you.

Why summer is critical for the game chamber

According to the leaflet of the Bern veterinary office, the gut of a shot animal starts to become permeable to bacteria just 30 to 45 minutes after death. The Baden-Württemberg state hunting association gives about 40 minutes and writes that, besides time, temperature and shot placement also force you to hurry.

Then there are flies. They like to lay eggs at the entry and exit wounds. At 25 to 30 °C the larvae hatch after just 8 to 12 hours, according to the Baden-Württemberg state hunting association. The “10 rules of game meat hygiene”, published by Land Tirol, state that with contaminated carcasses and temperatures above 10 °C, putrefaction can set in within a day.

The German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) recommends cooling carcasses to 7 °C as quickly as possible after the kill, small game to 4 °C. In law, EU Regulation 853/2004 gives the same maximum values and requires cooling “within a reasonable period of time”. Active cooling is not required there where the climate allows it. In summer that is often not the case: the Graubünden Office for Food Safety and Animal Health notes that mild temperatures prevent passive cooling of carcasses. You will find the limits per country and the difference between core and room temperature in the guide How to cool game meat.

Capacity and load: when the chiller reaches its limits

The Baden-Württemberg state hunting association writes that especially in the warmer months, and when a lot of game comes in at once, fridges and cold rooms should have enough cooling capacity. It is particularly important that cold air can circulate well. Good game fridges have a fan (circulating air) function for this.

• Don’t overload. The cantonal veterinarians (VSKT) state that cooling to the limits is only possible in a clean cold room that is large enough.
• Keep a gap. Carcasses should not touch each other (VSKT, BfR). The Graubünden office calls the gap mandatory, for air circulation and to avoid contamination through contact between hide and meat.
• Hang, don’t lay. The “10 rules of game meat hygiene” recommend letting game cool and dry while hanging. Lying down, pools form in the body cavities and the meat can turn musty.
• No warm carcass next to chilled ones. In small chillers a carcass at body heat gives off a lot of water vapour. It settles on carcasses that have already cooled and speeds up surface spoilage (Land Tirol, “10 rules”).
• Don’t stack. During transport, carcasses must not be placed on top of each other (EU Regulation 853/2004, large game). Swiss authorities state the same requirement.

Flies, humidity and cleanliness

The “10 rules of game meat hygiene” recommend cooling game protected from insects, for example under a net. They point out, however, that flies get in through the smallest openings. A leaflet from the City of Kassel requires insect screens on windows and ventilation openings where necessary in rooms where game meat is obtained for supply.

Moisture plays a part too: according to the “10 rules”, dry meat surfaces are less prone to bacterial spoilage. The Graubünden office lists high moisture from poor drying as one of the factors that favour spoilage.

Austria: what game meat hygiene guidance recommends

Recommendations

The “10 rules of game meat hygiene” by Armin Deutz, which appeared in “Jagd in Tirol” and are published by Land Tirol, give clear advice for summer:

• Let game cool and dry while hanging and protected from insects.
• Do not transport game at body heat in foil or bags that do not let water vapour through, and do not stack it, otherwise the meat turns musty.
• If you have no cooling of your own in the hunting ground, take the game to a collection point or a game handling establishment as soon as possible.
• In small chillers, do not hang a carcass at body heat next to carcasses that have already cooled.

Rules

For supplying game, Austria applies EU Regulation 853/2004 and the Food Hygiene Direct Marketing Ordinance. The details are in the guide How to cool game meat. The applicable regulations and your competent authority are what count.

Germany: what the association and authorities say

Recommendations

The Baden-Württemberg state hunting association sums up summer like this: recover, eviscerate, rinse and cool down quickly. After the shot, the aim is to get to the game chamber as fast as possible. To cool the core down, the association gives a set temperature of about 1 °C to 4 °C. The BfR recommends recovering and eviscerating game as quickly as possible and avoiding contact between carcasses.

Requirements of an authority (example)

The City of Kassel leaflet on obtaining game meat states, for hunters who supply small quantities: cooling facilities must be sufficient and fitted with thermometers. Anyone who skins game or supplies it in large quantities should, according to the leaflet, check the temperature of all chilling and freezing equipment at least once a day and document it. For purely private use, the leaflet recommends meeting the requirements too. You will find the Tier-LMHV limits in the guide How to cool game meat. The applicable regulations and your competent authority are what count.

Switzerland: what cantonal veterinarians and cantons say

Recommendations

The brochure “Wildbrethygiene und Organveränderungen beim Schalenwild” by the Swiss Association of Cantonal Veterinarians (VSKT), supported by the FSVO, recommends: recover game as quickly, gently and cleanly as possible and take it to a suitable cold room. In mild weather, the bag should not be laid out at the end of the hunting day. Carcasses should not touch, and game with and without its hide belongs in separate cold rooms. The Graubünden Office for Food Safety and Animal Health names a clean cold room that is large enough, at a constant temperature of no more than 7 °C.

Rules

Under the FDHA slaughter hygiene ordinance (VHyS), as summarised by the Graubünden office, game must be cooled to no more than 7 °C within a reasonable time after the kill, hares and feathered game to no more than 4 °C, and stacking must be avoided during transport. What applies to personal use is in the guide How to cool game meat. The applicable regulations and your competent authority are what count.

Power cuts and faults: what you can check

A power cut after a thunderstorm, a tripped fuse or a compressor fault: if the cooling fails, the temperature in the chiller rises without you seeing it from outside. After a storm or a fault, check that the cooling is running again and the temperature is coming down. If you freeze game, the guide Chest freezer power outage explains how long the cold lasts without power.

With Frigo: if power fails, the connectivity unit keeps running on its built-in battery for about four hours. During that time Frigo keeps measuring and alerts you when a value leaves your limit, as long as the mobile network is available. Once the battery is empty, Frigo reports that the connectivity unit has stopped sending data. The sensors do not store readings, so there is no data for that period. New readings arrive once the connectivity unit has power again.

Where cooling quietly fails in summer

• Too much warm game at once. The chiller cannot cope with the load, and the temperature stays too high for hours.
• The cooling fails after a thunderstorm, a tripped fuse or a fault, and nobody checks.
• You are not there. On your next stand, at work or on holiday.

That is what Frigo Hunt is for. You simply stick the sensors on, with no drilling and no cables. They measure air temperature and relative humidity where they are placed, not the core temperature of the meat. You set an upper and a lower limit for each sensor. If a value leaves that range, Frigo alerts all named people by app and email; SMS is an optional add-on. Every deviation is recorded with start, end and duration in a continuous, time-stamped record. A door contact can also be used.

At each site you plug one connectivity unit into a socket. It has its own mobile connection, so you do not need Wi-Fi. If a sensor or the connectivity unit stops sending data, Frigo alerts the named people. The sensors run on their own battery; Frigo replaces a sensor before its battery runs out and lets you know beforehand. You can read how it all works in How Frigo works.

Important: Frigo does not cool, does not control your chiller and does not prevent spoilage. Monitoring is not cooling. Frigo alerts you earlier so you can act, and it does not replace your own duties or official controls.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

• Regulation (EC) No 853/2004, Annex III, Section IV (game meat), Chapters II and III, German text. EU, web version undated
• Food Hygiene Direct Marketing Ordinance (Lebensmittelhygiene-Direktvermarktungsverordnung), BGBl. II No. 108/2006, consolidated version in the RIS, Federal Chancellery, undated, German. Austria
• “Wenn’s pressiert: Wildbrethygiene im Sommer” (game meat hygiene in summer), Baden-Württemberg state hunting association (Landesjagdverband), Jagd in Baden-Württemberg 06/2026, German. Germany
• Infographic “Lebensmittelsicherheit Wildbret” (food safety of game meat), German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR), as of 24 Mar 2026, German. Germany
• Hygiene requirements for obtaining game meat (leaflet), City of Kassel, Food Control and Animal Health, as of 08/2023, German. Germany
• Armin Deutz: Die „10 Gebote“ der Wildbrethygiene (10 rules of game meat hygiene), parts 1 and 2, Jagd in Tirol 03 and 04/2016, published by Land Tirol, German. Austria
• Wildbrethygiene und Organveränderungen beim Schalenwild (game meat hygiene and organ changes in ungulates), Swiss Association of Cantonal Veterinarians (VSKT), supported by the FSVO, version 1.0, July 2018, German. Switzerland
• Die Jagd aus Sicht des Vollzuges: Wildbrethygiene (presentation), Graubünden Office for Food Safety and Animal Health, 13 Jan 2026, German. Switzerland
• Food-law requirements for game (leaflet), Veterinary Office of the Canton of Bern, 30 Jan 2020, German. Switzerland

This article is guidance, not legal advice. The applicable regulations and your competent authority are what count. Frigo measures air temperature and humidity at the sensor location, does not cool and does not prevent spoilage. Alerts require a working connection. During a power cut the connectivity unit keeps running on its built-in battery for about four hours, after that Frigo reports that the connectivity unit has stopped sending data. Sources as of: October 2026.