Source: chinnarach / Fotolia

Official food and veterinary control is a key element for guaranteeing safe food. Where food is produced, treated or placed on the market, the responsible authorities carry out controls both regularly and upon suspicion, take samples and analyse them in official laboratories. In Germany this task is assigned to the authorities of the federal states. For this reason it does not belong to the tasks of the laboratories at the BVL to assess food samples for marketability (i.e. to check whether the legal provisions are adhered to).

If there are doubts regarding the quality or safety of a food product, the respective authorities in the federal states should be contacted.