3300 controls in one year

Created: 05/10/2022, 06:00

By: Hans Moritz

Bavaria's Environment Minister Thorsten Faithr has full confidence in KBLV boss Dr.

Claudia Thielen.

© Hans Moritz

Exactly five years ago, food monitoring in Bavaria was put on a new footing.

The district offices had to cede powers.

What has happened since then?

A lot, one thinks in the new authority and in the Ministry of the Environment.

Schwaig - The company was founded at a turbulent time: disgusting conditions in a large bakery near Freising, a massive health risk to the population due to the Bayernei scandal - it was then Environment Minister Ulrike Scharf who launched a new food control authority.

The Bavarian Control Authority for Food Safety and Veterinary Affairs (KBLV) has now existed in Schwaig, among other places, for five years.

Time for a first review.

Bavaria's Environment Minister Thorsten Faithr came to the Hotel Kandler in Notzing on Tuesday.

The FW minister confessed at the ceremony: "I can sleep well with the KBLV behind me." Because the new authority, which now has four locations - in addition to Schwaig Kulmbach, Buchloe and Altdorf near Nuremberg - has the food inspection of large and complex companies such as dairies, Breweries and larger fattening plants withdrawn from the district offices.

These are monitored by highly specialized teams of veterinarians, food inspectors and, last but not least, lawyers - across the borders of counties and administrative districts.

Initially affiliated with the State Office for Health and Food Safety (LGL), the KBLV is now directly subordinate to the Ministry of the Environment and Consumer Protection.

"I am very happy,

that we now have our own structure," said Glauber.

The KBLV is a "profit for safe food and animal welfare".

KBLV now has over 120 employees.

In the past year alone, 3,300 controls took place - without registration.

While the authority was initially responsible for 600 large Bavarian companies, there are now more than 820, including manufacturers of baby food and flavoring and food additives.

Always on hand: the 20 specialist lawyers who can immediately shut down production facilities and issue orders in the event of imminent danger.

The veterinary border control point at Munich Airport is also the responsibility of this authority.

Head of the first hour is Dr.

Claudia Thielen.

She recalled the four core competencies of the KBLV: "We are characterized by a high degree of specialization, some of which is international." District offices and district governments could not afford that.

In addition, the KBLV is always responsible for the whole of Bavaria, which is another advantage for them when it comes to monitoring large companies.

Thielen also praised the "high and legally secure enforcement competence of specialist lawyers".

And: "We are not bound by any political instructions," Thielen clarified.

In other words, the KBLV does not have to take anyone into consideration.

This in turn is a great benefit for consumers, as Glauber also emphasized.

You act more independently than a district administrator, for example, who is more conflicted about closing a large company in his region and punishing it.

However, Thielen also emphasized: "The vast majority work without complaint and with a high sense of responsibility." According to the KBLV, only 0.4 percent of the food samples in Bavaria have to be objected to as harmful.

Oberding's mayor Bernhard Mücke made no secret of being proud "that this authority has become at home in our community".

That should stay that way, said Mücke, referring to Scharf's efforts at the time to bring the KBLV to the city of Erding.

Third district administrator Rainer Mehringer broke a lance for the (food) trade, in which work is carried out reliably and cleanly.

He could not imagine "that you will find something in our district".

Nevertheless, according to Mehringer, well-organized and close-meshed consumer protection is a valuable and important asset.

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