Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania complies with control requirements in the food sector

Referring to the announcement of the Federal Association of Food Inspectors, which complained about too few inspection staff and stated that on average only 59 percent of the food establishments are inspected annually, the Minister for Food, Agriculture, Forests and Fisheries Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Dr. Till Backhaus (SPD) states that the controls in food companies in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania cover more than 80 percent of the registered companies every year.

Controls would be carried out depending on the particular risk that an establishment poses to the consumer; On average, this is two controls per control object and year. In 2002, an average of 82,6 percent of all farms were inspected at least once. "This means that not only the generally binding control specifications are adhered to. Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania is one of the top three in terms of control intensity compared to the rest of Germany," summed up Minister Backhaus.

The minister pointed out that this is largely thanks to the 26 official veterinarians and their employees as well as the 80 food inspectors in the 17 veterinary and food inspection offices in the country, who are entrusted with the official food inspection "on site" and under the supervision of the Ministry of Agriculture are instructed and supported by experts from the State Veterinary and Food Inspection Office.

The constantly increasing requirements for official monitoring due to expanded or new requirements through EU or federal law actually represent an enormous challenge for official food monitoring.

Dr. Backhaus: "In view of the undoubtedly tight budgets of the state and the municipalities, ways of efficiently handling the control tasks are being sought and have already been taken. Since 1997, there has been a well-functioning cooperation in the examination of food in our state with Hamburg and Schleswig -Holstein. Together we are pursuing the goal of avoiding deficits in the official investigation. " Further collaborations with Berlin, Brandenburg, Bremen and Lower Saxony are currently being implemented.

The demands on the personnel and equipment of the surveillance are increasing all the time. In this context, the minister refers to the extensive reconstruction of the State Veterinary and Food Inspection Office in Rostock that has started. "Here by 2006, with a volume of over 10 million euros, the prerequisites will be created so that the requirements for food testing and animal disease diagnostics will continue to be fully met in the future," said the minister.

In conclusion, the minister referred to the ongoing establishment of a uniform IT system including the districts and urban districts, the state veterinary and food inspection office and the agriculture ministry. Significant improvements in the efficiency of surveillance in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania are expected from this system.

Source: Schwerin [lm]