As of: January 19, 2024, 12:48 p.m
By: Stefan Aigner
Comments
Press
Split
The Riedenburger organic brewery in the Altmühltal has been criticized.
When checked, food hygiene was not as it should be.
Now the boss was taken to court.
Regensburg – Manufactured under conditions that would cause consumer disgust or reluctance if they knew about them.
The Kelheim district court assessed the conditions in the Riedenburger Brauhaus in Altmühltal during an inspection on August 23, 2022 and thereby confirmed a penalty order of 120 daily rates of 95 euros against the brewery boss.
“The purity law was always adhered to”: The court did not see the end product as being in danger despite the massive hygiene deficiencies, in the picture a rice flour beetle.
© Imago
Food inspector on the witness stand: As bad as in hardly any other brewery in the district
The junior boss Michael Krieger didn't want to put up with this and went to the Regensburg regional court.
There, a food inspection inspector described the conditions that he and a specialist inspector from the State Office for Health and Food Safety found in the organic brewery that day.
According to the witness, he knows all eleven breweries in the Kelheim district quite well.
But he only noticed something like that once in another brewery.
Cobwebs, mold, rust and moisture: there were complaints almost every year
Cobwebs, thick layers of dust, rust, moisture and mold spots in various storage and production rooms.
Defects that can be remedied and that, in one way or another, have apparently occurred more often.
The judgment of the Kelheim district court lists various conditional notices from the district office from 2016, 2018, 2019 and 2020, some of which included fines.
What particularly caught the inspectors' attention on August 23, 2022 was the massive pest infestation that they found in the brewhouse and the hop cellar, but especially in the grist mill where the brewing malt is crushed.
(By the way: Our Regensburg newsletter informs you about all developments, news and stories from the world heritage city.)
My news
More than twice as much as Uli Hoeneß: Bavarian building contractor buys his freedom for a million-dollar deposit
User puzzles over strange symbol on street sign – read “Never heard of something like that”.
Serious industrial accident in Bavaria: load slips from forklift and hits worker
Neighbor writes note to complain about screaming baby - parents celebrated for “brilliant answer” read
“Cry for help” from the Regensburg Edeka boss: Shoplifting by asylum seekers “no longer bearable” read
Flaming inferno on the Bavarian motorway: A3 completely closed at times
Insects in the grist mill: “There really wasn’t a place where we didn’t find any.”
The food inspector reported on the witness stand that there were dead insects lying around outside.
When he and his colleague opened the mill, moths and flour beetles fell on them and crawled out.
There were even beetles in the sampler, which is used to check the crushed shot.
“There really wasn’t a place where we didn’t find one.”
Dangerous pest rice flour beetle
The rice flour beetle (Tribolium castaneum) is a small beetle that belongs to the black beetle family and is known worldwide as a pest of stored products.
Its main habitat is cereal products such as flour, grains, rice, nuts and feed.
The beetles are brownish-red in color and reach a size of around 2-4 mm.
The flour beetle can cause significant damage to warehouses and storage facilities by feeding on and contaminating food.
The females lay their eggs in the stores and the larvae develop in the food by penetrating and contaminating it.
The beetles are capable of multiplying rapidly and their presence can result in quality loss, weight loss and significant economic damage.
Controlling the flour beetle requires careful food storage to prevent its spread.
This can be done through regular inspections, cleanliness, cooling or drying of stock, and the use of insecticides.
A protocol according to which the system had been cleaned just a few days earlier turned out to be incorrect.
The responsible employee admitted to him that he hadn't cleaned anything, but had simply signed off on the list, says the inspector.
Control in organic brewery: “We blocked the mill immediately.”
“We closed the mill immediately.” The brewery was given the opportunity to clean the system until the inspection was completed and then check again.
But that was “not so successful”.
Once again, beetles were found in a pipe where you “just had to use the vacuum cleaner.”
So production continued to stand still.
“I then went there again in the afternoon so that the grist mill could be opened again.”
An accommodation that was based on reciprocity.
The brewery boss was also “really cooperative” and anything but difficult.
After an inspection in the organic brewery: condition notice and penalty order
“He immediately admitted that something had gone wrong,” said the inspector.
“But it had already happened.” And it wasn’t the first time that happened.
“It starts all over again after every routine check.”
After the inspection in August 2023, it wasn't just a condition notice from the district office with a fine, which the brewery boss accepted and fulfilled the conditions, but was followed by a penalty order that has now been enforced by the court.
Organic brewer assures court: Beetles did not come into contact with beer
The 43-year-old explains some of the conditions in the brewery by saying that it is a historical building, built directly on the rock.
There are sometimes structural defects.
Shortly before the inspection there was a heavy rain event, combined with water intrusion.
Sometimes he also has too few employees.
Otherwise, the organic brewery is an artisanal operation that is cleaned regularly.
“It wouldn’t work anything other than hygienic.
Our beer would fall over.”
Beetles, dust and dirt did not come into contact with the product.
And the beetle infestation in the grist mill was not discovered before the inspection itself.
He couldn't say why that was the case.
Inspector explains brewery boss: “Every brewer knows that the grist mill is a weak point.”
The 43-year-old joined the family business as junior boss in 2015 and has been running the business alone since 2021.
Although he is a trained brewer and maltster himself and has experience as a master brewer abroad, he is essentially the managing director of the local organic brewery.
He wants to know from the food inspector on the witness stand how often the other breweries clean their grist mills.
He is a little surprised and says that you actually clean the mill after every use.
“Every brewer knows that the grist mill is a weak point.
The danger of moths and flour beetles is very high.”
Inspector on the witness stand: “Exceptionally massive pest infestations don’t happen overnight”
An “extraordinarily massive pest infestation”, as was discovered at the time, does not arise “overnight”.
This has been taking a long time.
“Even though you may not have enough employees, you still have to keep your business clean.
As a responsible person, I just have to go through it myself.”
After questioning the witness, presiding judge Matthias Clausing speaks plainly.
The chamber assumes at least conscious negligence, and possibly it was conditional intent - a borderline case.
Difficult question: criminal offense or misdemeanor
The crucial difference: In the case of conscious negligence, i.e. - to put it somewhat flippantly - the brewery boss knowingly neglected the cleaning with the assumption that nothing would happen, this is an administrative offense.
If there is conditional intent, i.e. if the brewery boss at least accepted the pest infestation, it is a criminal offense.
The penalty order for 120 daily rates that was initially imposed and confirmed by the Kelheim District Court was also based on intentional action.
It’s “a bit steep,” says Judge Clausing.
After all, the maximum penalty is one year in prison - three times as much.
Presiding judge warns of complex process
In order to actually determine whether there was intent or negligence, the process has to be carried out in a completely different, more complex way, says Clausing.
Among other things, reports on the hygienic conditions are needed, but also further witness interviews.
“This costs money, time and it is unclear whether it will end there.”
The chairman of the chamber suggests limiting the appeal to the sentence - i.e. to the number of daily sentences.
This would mean that the brewery boss would admit the allegations, but above all the intent, but on the other hand, an agreement could be reached with the public prosecutor's office to demand a maximum penalty of 90 daily rates - i.e. to avoid a previous conviction.
Lawyer for the brewery boss: “That could have been dealt with as an administrative offense.”
Defense attorney Johann Semmelmayer has some objections.
The question is whether his client should accept criminal liability for the failures of employees.
It was “very, very strict” to bring this to management.
“This could also have been dealt with as an administrative offense,” notes the lawyer.
In the end, however, everyone involved agrees to the proposed agreement.
After a short discussion, the chamber now imposes a fine of 60 daily rates of 95 euros, not only halving the Kelheim district court's penalty, but also remaining well below the public prosecutor's demand of 90 daily rates.
Court believes: Purity law always adhered to
“We have taken into account the fact that restricting his appeal is tantamount to a confession, even though he himself is only slightly aware of his guilt,” says Matthias Clausing, explaining the reasons.
This avoided a possible mammoth lawsuit.
The court also credited the defendant with mitigating punishment for the fact that the hygiene problems were quickly remedied, that he was always cooperative with the inspectors and that he simply “didn’t care enough”.
“We also assume that the purity law was always adhered to.”
The defendant and the state treasury each share half of the court costs.
You can find more news in our Merkur.de app, now in an improved design with more personalization functions.
Directly available for download, more information can be found here.
Are you an enthusiastic user of WhatsApp?
Merkur.de will now keep you up to date via a new Whatsapp channel.
Click here to go directly to the channel.