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Food monitoring - report unsafe food

Laboratories that carry out analyses on food on behalf of food companies are obliged to report unsafe food.

As the person responsible or in charge of a laboratory, you must check the following questions in connection with the new reporting obligation:

  • Is it a food sample taken in Germany?
  • Do you assume on the basis of the analysis results that the food safety requirements are not being met? Is there therefore a ban on circulation?

Hint: The obligation to notify supplements the obligations of food business operators. They must immediately inform the authorities responsible for you about measures taken if you assume that the food you have placed on the market is not safe.

Prerequisite

  • You are responsible for a laboratory that carries out analyses on foodstuffs on behalf of food companies.
  • You have a sample taken from a foodstuff in Germany and
  • assume, based on the results of the analysis, that the food safety requirements are not being met and that there is therefore a marketing ban.

Responsible department

  • the lower food supervisory authority responsible for the respective laboratory

The lower food supervisory authority is

  • if the registered office of your laboratory is in a city district: the city administration
  • if your laboratory is located in a rural district: the district administration office.

Procedure

You must inform the competent authority in writing or electronically about unsafe food. There is no form.

Deadlines

immediately

Required documents

  • Time and result of the analysis
  • method of analysis used and
  • Party commissioning the analysis

Costs

none

Miscellaneous

Note: A breach of the notification obligation (failure to notify, incorrect, incomplete or untimely notification) of unsafe food constitutes an administrative offence.

The competent authority may impose a fine of up to EUR 20,000.

Appeal

none

Legal basis

Lebensmittel- und Futtermittelgesetzbuch (LFGB):

  • § 44 Duldungs-, Mitwirkungs- und Übermittlungspflichten

Verordnung (EG) Nr. 178/2002 zur Festlegung der allgemeinen Grundsätze und Anforderungen des Lebensmittelrechts, zur Errichtung der Europäischen Behörde für Lebensmittelsicherheit und zur Festlegung von Verfahren zur Lebensmittelsicherheit

Release note

machine generated, based on the German release by: Ministerium für Ernährung, Ländlichen Raum und Verbraucherschutz Baden-Württemberg, 21.06.2024