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The consumer ministry and the food industry agreed on February 11, 2004 to form a platform for society as a whole. The platform is intended to promote and bundle measures that serve to provide nutritional information and to increase physical activity in children and adolescents to prevent obesity. Other actors are invited to participate in the platform.

Joint declaration between the Federal Ministry of Consumers and the food industry on the establishment of a platform for society as a whole to promote nutritional education measures and increasing physical activity in children and adolescents to prevent obesity

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A company is being investigated in Brandenburg that has relabelled meat with an expired best-before date on the market. Some of the confiscated meat was obviously spoiled. On the edge it is amusing that the Union parliamentary group is immediately formulating an attack on the federal government. But read for yourself.

The food scandal surrounding the company Mac Snack Food Import GmbH in Stahnsdorf (Potsdam-Mittelmark) is widening. According to the Brandenburg Ministry of Agriculture, one of the 28 meat samples that were examined in the past few days at the Brandenburg State Laboratory in Frankfurt (Oder) had exceeded the shelf life. "It was inedible," said ministry spokesman Achim Wersin. Two of the five samples of the Argentine beef examined at the Berlin Institute for Food, Drugs and Animal Diseases (ILAT) were said to have been bad. "The meat was so spoiled that you could smell, see and taste it even without a microbiological examination", ILAT department head Doris Kusch is quoted as saying.

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or how experts can be mistaken

At the University of Hohenheim, Prof. Albert Fischer wanted to prove to his students that the discussion about the Munich white sausage was very much shaped by prejudice. But things turned out differently during the blind tasting.

In the Bavarian capital, the Münchner Weißwurst Association is fighting for comprehensive protection of this very specialty of protected origin - just like the people of Nuremberg protect their bratwurst. A dispute arose as to whether "Münchner Weißwurst" could continue to be produced outside the city and district of Munich, even without an important original ingredient, veal.

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WDR calls for caution with packaged fresh poultry - test showed clear hygiene deficiencies

A random test by the WDR revealed little that was appetizing: two thirds of the tested, packaged poultry meat had already spoiled by the printed use-by date. The chicken legs smelled bad, were greasy and full of germs and bacteria.

30 packs of ready-to-cook poultry of various brands and price ranges were tested. Chicken breasts as well as chicken thighs and schnitzel, all from the self-service counter. Just nine of these samples were still sensory and microbiologically in order on the last day of the consumption period. For the other samples, the following was true: appetite is gone.

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The importance of the role of HDL cholesterol further elucidated

Even laypeople now know that a high concentration of blood lipids (cholesterol) means a risk for vascular diseases, especially heart attacks and strokes. However, high blood cholesterol alone says little about the dangers. Rather, it is the individual fractions of blood lipids that are decisive: it turned out years ago that the so-called HDL cholesterol is not dangerous;

Why, however, has remained largely unclear so far. Now a group of scientists from Münster, Düsseldorf, Essen, Tokyo and Berlin, in which Professor Dr. Markus van der Giet from the "Medical Clinic IV" of the Charité played a major role in the solution to the riddle: The group found that HDL is a decisive regulator of the so-called vascular tone, the narrowing or widening of blood vessels. HDL stimulates the formation and release of the volatile gas nitrogen monoxide (NO) from the endothelial cells, the cells that form the inner lining of the blood vessels. HDL binds to the corresponding receptor in the wall of these cells. As soon as NO is released from it, the muscle cells in the deeper layers of the vascular wall relax and the vascular clearing expands.

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Turkey breeding farms successful in the express procedure

The Potsdam Administrative Court has decided the last pending urgent procedure for the use of the Wittstock military training area as an air-to-ground firing range. With a resolution dated February 6, 2004, it restored the suspensive effect of the action brought by Kartzfehn Märkische Puten GmbH, which operates turkey breeding facilities in Ganz, Neuglienicke, Rossow, Dünemünde, Pfalzheim, Frankendorf, Gadow and Dossow. As a result, the Bundeswehr is not allowed to carry out any operations at the Wittstock military training area until the company's complaint is rejected or the decision is reversed by the Higher Administrative Court, to which the Federal Republic of Germany can appeal the decision.

In the present case, the 3rd Chamber also assumed a violation of the balancing requirement. In its decision, the Federal Republic of Germany did not consider the effects of aircraft noise for the turkey farm in the balancing of interests. It is true that the Federal Republic of Germany has a wide margin of appreciation when it comes to performing defense tasks. However, in the present case it cannot be ruled out that the company's rights may be violated by the aircraft noise.

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Lost more than 5% in the year as a whole

 According to information from the Federal Statistical Office, turnover in the hospitality industry in Germany in December 2003 was nominally (at current prices) 2,9% and in real terms (at constant prices) 3,6% lower than in December 2002. After calendar and seasonal adjustment of the data ( Berlin procedure 4 - BV 4) was sold in nominal terms 2003% and real 1,0% less than in November 1,1.

In 2003 as a whole, companies in the hotel and restaurant industry had a nominal turnover of 4,9% and in real terms 5,8% less than in 2002. This result corresponds almost exactly to the estimate of January 16, 2004. Thus, for the second year in a row, the hospitality industry recorded lower sales compared to the previous year (2002 compared to 2001: nominal - 4,6%, real - 8,1%).

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Workshop for the butcher's trade

The consumption habits of the people in Germany are changing rapidly. The traditional meal, prepared in one's own kitchen, is becoming less and less important. Instead, there is increasing demand for services, be it in the form of out-of-home consumption - especially as a small meal in between - or as a party service that relieves the host of the time-consuming preparation of appetizing snacks, varied buffets or high-quality menus.

These business areas offer butcher shops interesting opportunities to distinguish themselves with an attractive, comprehensive range and thus generate additional sales and win new customers.

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For a Dutch farmer it makes no difference whether he grows grain for feed or for human consumption: the quality is guaranteed in each case. He can give this guarantee thanks to the GMP + code for animal feed cultivation or its counterpart for food for human consumption. But even if feed is grown in accordance with this latter regulation, the quality is adequately guaranteed. This is the conclusion reached by those responsible for these regulations, the Dutch business group for animal feed and the business group for grain, seeds and pulses, after extensive consultation and coordination. This confirms that the highest standards also apply to the cultivation of feed in the Netherlands.

The quality guarantee for Dutch animal feed was established in 1992 by the Animal Feed Economic Group’s Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP +). Cattle farmers who participate in the IKB quality assurance system are only allowed to purchase their compound feed from GMP + companies. The plus in "GMP +" indicates a change in the GMP + system in 2001. Since then, the safety of Dutch animal feed in the GMP + system has been guaranteed by the principles of HACCP (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points). As a result, the Dutch animal feed sector has brought quality assurance for the production of animal feed on a par with the production of food for human consumption. This line is continued in the cultivation of animal feed, the GMP + code of which is now recognized as offering quality assurance that is equivalent to the assessment guideline for food safety. Both regulations include basic requirements for food safety. The norms of the GMP + code are based on the feed legislation, while those of the assessment guidelines are based on the laws on food safety. In both regulations, the package of requirements is based on the HACCP system. In order to exclude possible safety risks in all stages of the production process, the farmers can take concrete measures and thereby eliminate potential dangers or at least reduce them to an acceptable level.

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Violations of the IKB pig quality assurance system must be punished uniformly. For this reason, on February 11th of this year, the Economic Group for Livestock, Meat and Eggs defined the IKB pig assessment criteria. This ensures that the independent certification institution VERIN punishes the same violations of the IKB rules in the same way.

Independent controls and sanctions are important pillars of the IKB quality assurance system for pigs. Since the implementation of this system in 1992, the number of participants has increased rapidly. In 2003, around 90% of Dutch pork was produced according to IKB specifications. Since the guidelines were tightened at the beginning of 2004, pig farmers had to register again. Registration is very quick and the number of participants in the new system is back to where it was at the end of 2003.

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