Prices tend slightly upwards

Local consumers may not find low prices for turkey meat that often in the near future because the slaughterhouses have raised their selling prices slightly, especially at the lower end of the range. Reason: The demand for turkey meat has recently increased significantly, on the other hand, supplies from other EU countries are no longer as extensive. The total supply from domestic and foreign production is therefore currently not very plentiful on the German turkey market. Therefore, in the weeks that follow, consumers will continue to see slightly higher turkey meat prices than last year. Fresh turkey schnitzel, for example, cost an average of EUR 7,85 per kilogram at the store level in July, twelve cents more than in July 2003 and 33 cents more than in July 2002.

In the current year, German consumers have not gone to discount stores as often to buy fresh turkey meat – this poultry is only available in small quantities frozen. In the first half of 2004, only 26 percent of the quantities of fresh turkey meat bought by private households were purchased from discounters; this percentage was still 30 percent for the whole of last year. One reason for the trend reversal is likely to be the pricing of the discounters, which have significantly increased their prices for fresh turkey meat. At the end of June, a kilogram of fresh turkey schnitzel cost an average of EUR 6,72 in discount stores, almost 13 percent more than in the same period last year. In consumer markets, on the other hand, this section was only two percent more expensive than at the end of June 7,82, at an average price per kilo of 2003 euros Lost price leadership.

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The focus was on food law issues

In July, the entire board of the German Butchers' Association met for its third meeting of the year. The representatives of the state associations dealt with current issues and developments in food law, the reorganization of vocational training, joint advertising and the organization of various events.

Following the short reports by President Manfred Rycken and Managing Director Martin Fuchs, in which the relevant developments of the past few weeks and the positive results of the IFFA for the butcher trade were addressed, the members of the Executive Committee presented their reports from the individual departments for discussion.

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First prize for guilds goes to Berlin. The best butcher shop is Klaus Kunkel GmbH from Goldbach

The prize for the best PR work, which has been named after the former President of the DFV, Rudolf Kunze, has been awarded for the twentieth time since 1989. Originally, the prize was only intended for guilds in the butcher's trade. In addition to the search for the best and most original ideas for advertising campaigns and their most effective presentation in the general press, the promotion of community spirit was particularly important when the prize was first awarded in 1984. Due to the great interest of individual companies in taking part in the competition, the price for guilds will be supplemented by promotional prices for butcher shops, donated by the afz - Allgemeine Fleischer Zeitung.

The aim of the competition is to encourage guilds and specialist butcher shops to do more public relations work. The prize, which is endowed with a total of 3.000 euros for guilds and 900 euros for butcher shops, is not only intended to be a reward for the best, but the results of the competitions serve as a model and inspiration for activities in other guilds and companies.

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At its last meeting at the end of July 2004, the State Advisory Council for Animal Welfare in Baden-Württemberg dealt with carbon dioxide stunning during the slaughter of pigs. A working group was set up to draw up proposals for the future requirements for this type of stunning from the point of view of animal welfare, with the participation of external experts. As the report by the responsible Ministry of Agriculture suggests, the alternative use of non-irritating inert gases such as argon or gas mixtures to induce the pigs to become unconscious during slaughter is currently being viewed as an alternative to the controversially discussed carbon dioxide stunning.

The task of the working group is to develop solutions to minimize the stress on animals during stunning in connection with slaughter and to avoid adverse effects on carcass and meat quality.

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dr On August 1, 2004, Hermann van Bömmel from the University of Witten/Herdecke presented initiatives and projects in the Rheinisches Industriemuseum, Oberhausen, which are intended to improve the culture of eating and the training of food managers

At the University of Witten / Herdecke there are more and more initiatives and projects to strengthen the regional food industry and to improve the training of food managers. On August 1st, 2004 there was the first opportunity to present the whole range of activities under the direction of the director of the German Competence Center for Sustainable Management (dknw), Prof. Dr. Werner F. Schulz to get to know.

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About market research on targeted regional offers - new figures on the market development of meat and sausage products in 2004

Meat and sausage products consistently dominate as the most important components in the German meal market. This is also supported by the market figures for 2003, such as buyer reach (99,7%), average quantity and expenditure per buyer household (36,2 kg) or shopping frequency (62 pa). In this respect, a comparison of the first quarter of 1 with the same period of the previous year shows at best a slight "weakening" of the overall market and the continuation of a development that has been observed for years.

According to GfK data and STOCKMEYER market research, the first quarter of this year was characterized by stagnation in sales overall, service goods fell again and self-service goods increased by 1% based on volume and 4% based on value. The trend towards pre-packaged meat and sausage products is continuing, as is the move away from the service counter. STOCKMEYER market research attributes this development and that of the average prices to the end consumer to the continuing dominance of the discount sales form, which accounted for 3% of sales of pre-packaged meat and sausage products at the end of last year.

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The EU Commission assesses the amendment to the German Genetic Engineering Act as not legally compliant

At the beginning of this year, Federal Consumer Protection Minister Renate Künast presented her draft amendment to the German Genetic Engineering Act (GenTG) - the transposition of the EU Release Directive 2002/2001 into German law, which has been overdue since October 18. In an internal communication from the EU Commission dated July 26.7.04, XNUMX, she sharply criticized the federal government's draft and announced further reviews. After the ongoing criticism from the opposition, from scientific associations and agricultural companies, this is seen as a serious questioning of the competence of Consumer Protection Minister Künast.

The EU Commission has checked the correctness of the implementation of the EU Directive. The result is a long list of points of criticism and clarification regarding the draft of the GenTG amendment, which was sent to the Commission on April 23.4.04, 2001. In summary, the Commission complains that various mandatory provisions of the EU Deliberate Release Directive 18/XNUMX have not been adequately implemented and, in particular, that provisions relating to the labeling of genetically modified organisms (GMO) have not been observed. Finally, the EU Commission also stated that it had very fundamental doubts about Germany's willingness to even consider the EU-wide harmonized procedures for placing GMOs on the market. A number of points show that Künast's draft law undermines EU competences and regulations. For example, the additional obligations formulated in the amended GenTG for operators who want to place GMOs on the market ("prior safety assessment, examination of the risk assessment and safety measures, etc.") say that these obligations "violate the provisions" of another EU regulation that has already been takes care of such matters. Other equally complex and cost-intensive hurdles for German users of the life sciences are also criticized because they are designed unilaterally, exaggerated or already regulated elsewhere. Künast's plan to designate more or less arbitrarily "ecologically sensitive areas" in Germany, in which no genetic engineering may be used per se, has also been criticized because such restrictions "have to be regulated in accordance with the relevant Community laws".

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Food monitoring of the federal states found violations in every fifth company

Every fifth food producing, processing and selling company in Germany was objected to by the inspectors of the federal states. This is one of the results of the 2003 food monitoring annual report, which the Federal Office for Consumer Protection and Food Safety (BVL) compiled for the European Commission on the basis of data from the federal states. General hygiene and the labeling and presentation of food were particularly frequently criticized in the companies. 

In 2003, the federal states checked compliance with the regulations in 1.122.521 companies during a total of 607.284 inspection visits. This means that in 2003 around 54 percent of all German production sites were inspected. 

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Are the seals on the screw caps of glass packaging to blame?

Food chemists from the University of Würzburg have detected an undesirable compound in baby food and fruit juices: 2-ethylhexanoic acid (2-EHA). This chemical is suspected of damaging embryos. It probably comes from the screw caps with which the glass containers are closed.

The scientists led by Professor Peter Schreier from the Chair of Food Chemistry examined 60 random samples, including organic products. They found what they were looking for in 80 percent of baby food and 73 percent of fruit juices. All samples were from jars or glass bottles with screw cap closures.

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Offer on the German market so far larger than in 2003

 Supply and demand set the price. This supposed truism certainly also applies to the pig market. The recent strong increase in pig prices would therefore be the result of a small supply in comparison to the demand on the German market. However, things do not seem to be that simple. Some market data and indicators point to relatively good domestic supply. On the other hand, the first evaluations of the livestock census of May 2004 indicate a noticeable decline in the supply of pigs in the medium term.

The supply situation on the pig market is reflected, among other things, in the development of the slaughter figures. For the German market, however, based on the number of slaughters, no reasons for the recent price increase can be identified. On the contrary, on a weekly average this year, almost two percent more pigs were hooked than in 2003. This also corresponds to the supply estimates that were based on the November 2003 cattle census for Germany.

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Average consumer prices for the year mostly down

 More organic food was bought in this country last year than in 2002; sales in the organic sector increased by four percent to 3,1 billion euros. This means that organically produced food accounted for 2,4 percent of the total local food turnover. The Germans bought more ecological products, especially in food retail and organic supermarkets.

Overall, there was a plentiful supply of organic goods in 2003, both from domestic and foreign production. Local consumers benefited from this; consumer prices for many organic foods fell or at least remained unchanged.

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