By . Deni Kirkova . PUBLISHED: . 05:42 EST, 14 October 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 08:26 EST, 14 October 2013 . Miranda Krestovnikoff, pictured presenting the BBC's Coast, champions eating roadkill . With a high-profile figure urging us to indulge in eating dead animals off the side of the road, the practice is no longer the taboo it once was. Miranda Krestovnikoff, 40, has said: 'It’s lean, healthy, organic, free, guilt-free and as fresh as fresh can be.' The new president of bird conservation charity RSPB, and long-standing BBC presenter, even cooked roadkill for a recent dinner party. The occasion, to be broadcast tonight, features fried rat carcass picked up from the B3347 near Sopley in the New Forest; and sautéed fox from the Ferndown bypass near Wimborne, Dorset. Badger from the A354 near Salisbury was also served, with chasseur tomato sauce and croutons. After hosting her unusual dinner party for friends she said: 'It would be good to encourage it more widely. 'I don’t see why not. People have a problem with it because the meat has not come from a cellophane wrapper. 'But . if the meat is fresh, there’s no risk of catching anything. It’s lean, . healthy, organic, free, guilt-free and as fresh as fresh can be. 'We need to know what we’re eating and where it is coming from and this allows you to do that. 'It . is a chance to get connected to what you eat. We’re obsessed by sell-by . dates and things like that. But roadkill can be eaten very . hygienically. People are too squeamish,' she said, as reported in the Telegraph. The RSPB's . more than one million members might be surprised to learn . Krestovnikoff, who was announced as their new face just last week, is . championing the eating of British roadkill. The . presenter has told how she wants more people to source their meat not . from a local supermarket or specialist butchers, but rather, from the . roadside. Miranda cooked rat, fox and badger roadkill for dinner party guests - and says we should all indulge . Krestovnikoff, who has appeared on Coast, The One Show and Britain's Big Wildlife Revival, began eating roadkill after spotting a dead pheasant on the roadside near her family home near Bristol. She butchers the meat herself with her husband Nicholas, who runs a publishing company. They make sausages form the offcuts and leave the rest outside for animals to scavenge. They now keep a tarpaulin sheet in their car allowing them to pick up any suitable carcasses that they see. One of the first deer Krestovnikoff recovered was one she spotted while heading home from school with her children. She says while other parents at the school gate thought it was odd, she doesn't 'go looking' for it, but is she sees it she will swoop it up and is happy to feed the meat to her children, aged five and seven, and they are aware of its origins . Other celebrity and famous foodie . advocates include Janet Street-Porter, celebrity chef Hugh . Fearnley-Whittingstall and presenter and farmer Jimmy Doherty. It is legal to eat roadkill, provided the animals have been run over accidentally and the meat is not sold. The Food Standards Agency, though, advises against eating roadkill, saying the animals may not have been healthy when killed and may have been suffering from disease or environmental contamination and if left on the roadside for too long, harmful levels of bacteria, such as salmonella, E. coli and Clostridium botulinum, could grow. Krestovnikoff’s dinner party will be shown on BBC One’s Inside Out tonight at 7.30pm.
Miranda Krestovnikoff is new face of Rainham Marshes Nature Reserve .
BBC presenter cooked rat from the B3347 and fox from Ferndown bypass .
President of bird conservation charity urges public to follow her example .
'It's lean, healthy, organic, free, guilt-free and as fresh as fresh can be'
By . Deni Kirkova . PUBLISHED: . 05:42 EST, 14 October 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 08:26 EST, 14 October 2013 . Miranda Krestovnikoff, pictured presenting the BBC's Coast, champions eating roadkill . With a high-profile figure urging us to indulge in eating dead animals off the side of the road, the practice is no longer the taboo it once was. Miranda Krestovnikoff, 40, has said: 'It’s lean, healthy, organic, free, guilt-free and as fresh as fresh can be.' The new president of bird conservation charity RSPB, and long-standing BBC presenter, even cooked roadkill for a recent dinner party. The occasion, to be broadcast tonight, features fried rat carcass picked up from the B3347 near Sopley in the New Forest; and sautéed fox from the Ferndown bypass near Wimborne, Dorset. Badger from the A354 near Salisbury was also served, with chasseur tomato sauce and croutons. After hosting her unusual dinner party for friends she said: 'It would be good to encourage it more widely. 'I don’t see why not. People have a problem with it because the meat has not come from a cellophane wrapper. 'But . if the meat is fresh, there’s no risk of catching anything. It’s lean, . healthy, organic, free, guilt-free and as fresh as fresh can be. 'We need to know what we’re eating and where it is coming from and this allows you to do that. 'It . is a chance to get connected to what you eat. We’re obsessed by sell-by . dates and things like that. But roadkill can be eaten very . hygienically. People are too squeamish,' she said, as reported in the Telegraph. The RSPB's . more than one million members might be surprised to learn . Krestovnikoff, who was announced as their new face just last week, is . championing the eating of British roadkill. The . presenter has told how she wants more people to source their meat not . from a local supermarket or specialist butchers, but rather, from the . roadside. Miranda cooked rat, fox and badger roadkill for dinner party guests - and says we should all indulge . Krestovnikoff, who has appeared on Coast, The One Show and Britain's Big Wildlife Revival, began eating roadkill after spotting a dead pheasant on the roadside near her family home near Bristol. She butchers the meat herself with her husband Nicholas, who runs a publishing company. They make sausages form the offcuts and leave the rest outside for animals to scavenge. They now keep a tarpaulin sheet in their car allowing them to pick up any suitable carcasses that they see. One of the first deer Krestovnikoff recovered was one she spotted while heading home from school with her children. She says while other parents at the school gate thought it was odd, she doesn't 'go looking' for it, but is she sees it she will swoop it up and is happy to feed the meat to her children, aged five and seven, and they are aware of its origins . Other celebrity and famous foodie . advocates include Janet Street-Porter, celebrity chef Hugh . Fearnley-Whittingstall and presenter and farmer Jimmy Doherty. It is legal to eat roadkill, provided the animals have been run over accidentally and the meat is not sold. The Food Standards Agency, though, advises against eating roadkill, saying the animals may not have been healthy when killed and may have been suffering from disease or environmental contamination and if left on the roadside for too long, harmful levels of bacteria, such as salmonella, E. coli and Clostridium botulinum, could grow. Krestovnikoff’s dinner party will be shown on BBC One’s Inside Out tonight at 7.30pm.
October 2013 . Miranda Krestovnikoff, pictured 'It’s lean, healthy, organic, free, guilt-free of bird conservation charity RSPB, and long-standing BBC presenter, even cooked roadkill Forest; and sautéed fox from the Ferndown bypass free, guilt-free and as fresh as fresh can be.