What is lebensmittelwarnung.de?

On the website www.lebensmittelwarnung.de, consumers can find can find an overview of alerts and recall information concerning food, cosmetics, tattoo and consumer products issued in Germany. The Internet portal was established by the Federal Office of Consumer Protection and Food Safety (Bundesamt für Verbraucherschutz und Lebensmittelsicherheit (BVL)) on behalf of the 16 German federal states and is technically supported by the BVL.

What is lebensmittelwarnung.de?

Das Bild zeigt eine Getränkepackung mit Lupe. Source: vaitekune - stock.adobe.com

On www.lebensmittelwarnung.de, consumers can find a listing of recalls by companies and alerts issued by government authorities with regard to food, cosmetics, tattoo and consumer products in Germany. These recalls and alerts concern products that pose a health risk, are nauseating, or may deceive consumers and that were distributed and may already have reached the consumers.

Key facts on lebensmittelwarnung.de at a glance

Products such as food, cosmetics, tattoo products, and consumer products that are not safe must not be marketed. They are not safe, if they are likely to be harmful to health or if they are not suitable for human consumption.
The portal comprises notifications on the following product categories: food, cosmetics, tattoo products, and consumer products. However, what exactly does this mean?

lebensmittelwarnung.de: Alert categories on lebensmittelwarnung.de Source: Wiese / BVL

If the business operator discovers, e.g., through its own inspections, that one of its products does not comply with safety standards, it shall promptly take measures to withdraw the product concerned from the market - the so-called product withdrawal. However, If the product may already have reached the consumers, the business operator must effectively inform the consumers about the product withdrawal and will recall the product concerned - the so-called recall. The business operator itself bears the primary responsibility for a public recall of a hazardous product.

In either case, the business operator will inform the nearest competent government authority (company’s place of business). The first point of contact for food business operators are the food monitoring offices at the lower administrative level (districts, district administration, district-free city).
Since business operators cannot publish alerts on the portal lebensmittelwarnung.de themselves, the government authority on site will forward the recall information to the next higher or upper government authority (depending on the administrative structure of the federal state, e.g., state ministry, senate administration, or state office) which will then prepare the notification and its publication on lebensmittelwarnung.de.
Consumers also need to be informed if the product was marketed in more than one country. Therefore, the business operator needs to inform all recipients of the goods affected. In order to enable the competent government authority abroad to ensure that the public recall is duly handled, the Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed RASFF will be activated.

lebensmittelwarnung.de: How does the recall get to the portal? Source: Wiese / BVL

Follow this link to get to the portal lebensmittelwarnung.de
If you follow the Twitter account @BVL_Bund, you will automatically receive information on the latest alerts with a link to the portal and will be directed to the product concerned.
Please refer to the FAQ if you need more information on the portal and legal background.

Who does what at lebensmittelwarnung.de?

The portal lebensmittelwarnung.de enables the competent government authorities to inform consumers about recalls issued by business operators or to issue alerts for certain products under certain circumstances.
The portal lebensmittelwarnung was established by the Federal Office of Consumer Protection and Food Safety (Bundesamt für Verbraucherschutz und Lebensmittelsicherheit (BVL)) on behalf of the 16 German federal states and is technically supported by the BVL.
In certain cases, the BVL may also issue alerts for products on its own. The illustration below shows the allocation of tasks to business operators and government authorities.

Product alerts and recalls Source: Wiese / BVL