Wilke scandal: foodwatch calls for independent state institutions for food monitoring

In view of the scandal surrounding Wilke's sausage contaminated with listeria, the consumer organization foodwatch has called for a fundamental reform of food monitoring in Germany. Instead of organizing the controls at the district level as before, there must in future be a single, separate and independent state institute for food monitoring in each federal state. The new institutions would have to be independent of the political influence of the state governments and be given extensive powers. Federal Food Minister Julia Klöckner must also ensure that the results of all food controls are consistently published, according to foodwatch. Julia Klöckner meets with the consumer protection ministers of the federal states in Berlin on Friday to discuss the political consequences of the Wilke scandal.

"Food monitoring has a systemic problem: The authorities of the federal states and municipalities are committed to promoting the regional economy and maintaining jobs as well as controlling companies - a permanent conflict of interest that needs to be resolved," explained Oliver Huizinga, Head Research and campaigns at foodwatch. At the federal-state meeting, lip service for better cooperation should not remain, Huizinga warned.

According to the ideas of foodwatch, the new state institutes for food monitoring will in future be responsible for all operations in a respective federal state. In order to ensure the independence of the institutions, they would have to be installed beyond the normal state administration - without the so-called technical supervision by higher-level state consumer ministries. Supervision must be limited to compliance with legal norms, so that consumer ministries cannot issue political instructions to the state authorities. According to foodwatch, the stipulation for personnel planning must be the prescribed number of plan controls according to the current legal situation. The respective state parliaments would also have to be involved in appointing and dismissing management personnel - similar to the state data protection officers.

foodwatch also demanded that all results obtained by the state institutions, be it through operational controls or laboratory tests, must be openly accessible. This would not only be an incentive for all companies to adhere to all the requirements of food law at all times, but would also mean that state action in food monitoring would be subject to public control, according to foodwatch.

Listeria have been detected in products from Wilke. Three deaths and 37 illnesses are linked to the goods. Listeria can be life-threatening for people with weak immune systems. The sausage manufacturer in the Hessian Twist valley-Berndorf was closed almost three weeks ago. Wilke then filed for provisional bankruptcy.

Sources and further information:
Wilke scandal - this has to happen now: www.t1p.de/yj58