Minister Peter Hauk MdL: "Consumers can rely on strong consumer health protection in the state"

The annual food control report for 2022 is presented.

“Consumers rightly expect that the groceries and everyday items they buy should be labeled correctly and understandably without any health problems, regardless of their origin or price. Consumer health protection has a high priority in the state and consumers can rely on the high level," said the Minister for Food, Rural Areas and Consumer Protection, Peter Hauk MdL, on Monday (July 24) in Stuttgart, on the occasion of the State press conference to present the annual report on the monitoring of food, consumer goods, cosmetics, drinking water and animal feed.

The experts from the consumer protection authorities took a risk-oriented approach, which contributes to a high degree of efficiency. "It will continue to be important to the state government in the future to fulfill the diverse tasks in this area and thus to guarantee a high level of security for the citizens," emphasized Hauk. "I would like to thank all the employees of the official food, drinking water and feed monitoring of the state, who fulfill their responsible task with a high level of personal commitment," said the minister.

More than 103,000 inspection visits

Almost 67,000 food establishments were inspected in more than 103,000 inspection visits; Violations were found in around 15 percent of these inspected companies. Of the approximately 47,000 samples examined (food, cosmetics, consumer goods and tobacco products), around 16 percent were objected to, but only 0.3 percent were assessed as harmful.

The feed control checked over 1,200 companies and took over 800 samples, of which about 11 percent did not comply with the regulations.

More than 6,800 drinking water samples were examined. Overall, the results of the intensive drinking water tests confirm the very good drinking water quality in Baden-Württemberg.

Tahini and halva - sources of danger for salmonella diseases

Tahini and halva are popular sesame specialties that are not only used in Arabic cuisine. As a rule, they are not heated through before consumption, which is why it is particularly important for these foods to be microbiologically flawless. In recent years, these products have attracted attention due to reports of salmonella contamination. Salmonella are a health risk for consumers that should not be underestimated; because they can lead to gastrointestinal diseases even in low concentrations.

At the end of 2021, five European countries reported a total of 121 salmonellosis infections that had been observed in connection with the consumption of sesame products imported from Syria since 2019.

The national contact point for foodborne disease outbreaks was able to assign outbreaks in 15 countries to this event, including Baden-Württemberg. As a result, the importers based in Baden-Württemberg were examined in spring 2022 and a special investigation program was launched. In addition to the investigations, the demanding determination of the distribution channels from the manufacturer's country to the importers was also a priority.

Dioxins and PCBs in chicken eggs - improved situation

Dioxins and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are known environmental contaminants. They also occur as such in the soil. Although PCB-containing paints or hydraulic oils are a thing of the past, they can still be found in old stables or old agricultural machinery in some places.

Layers can pick up these harmful compounds when pecking at soil and other materials. They also get into eggs as fat-soluble substances. Therefore, eggs from free-range hens are comparatively more heavily contaminated with dioxins and/or PCBs than those from stables.

After a special project for eggs from small chicken farms, husbandry recommendations for these farms were published in 2005, which should improve the situation. Their effectiveness was checked in a repeated project in 2022. The measures introduced since 2005 were obviously successful: the levels in 2022 were about 5 times lower. However, in the case of eggs from small chicken husbandry, maximum quantity exceedances with occasional extreme loads continue to occur more frequently than in larger farms.

Nicotine Pouches - a new trend in tobacco-free alternatives

The market for tobacco products and, above all, supposedly less harmful tobacco substitutes is developing rapidly.

Nicotine Pouches have been on the market in Germany since the end of 2019. These are small, porous bags made of cellulose fibers that contain powder containing nicotine. In addition to carriers and additives, other ingredients include flavors and sweeteners. Tobacco, on the other hand, is not included in the bags. By placing the sachet in the cheek pouch or under the lip, the nicotine is released and absorbed.

The German authorities classify these nicotine pouches as food because they do not contain tobacco. However, nicotine is new in food and has not yet been approved. Therefore, such products are consistently classified as not marketable, in 2022 this was the case 27 times in Baden-Württemberg.

In addition, the nicotine content of the 15 samples tested for nicotine was too high, which led to the classification as unhealthy food.

Background information:

Further results and curiosities from the official food, drinking water and feed monitoring 2022 can be found in the annual report, which is available as a pdf file on the MLR homepage , and at www.verbraucherportal-bw.de and www.ua-bw.de .