Investigations after allegation against animal marketers

After allegations against a cattle marketer, in which the papers of more than 1,100 cattle are said to have been manipulated before the entry into slaughterhouses, the Bielefeld public prosecutor’s office is now investigating. A proceedings had already been initiated in mid-March for suspicion of the violation of the food, needs and feeding of the feed code, a spokeswoman said on request. No information was given on the number of accused or the precise state of the investigation. The public prosecutor’s office itself had involved the Raiffeisen cattle center (RVZ).

Incorrect posture level specified

According to earlier information from the RVZ, the cattle have been « falsified as animals of the form of posture 3 (HF 3) between November 2023 and January 2024. As a result, according to a report by the “Süddeutsche Zeitung” from mid -April, there were presumably several hundred tons of incorrectly declared meat and incorrectly declared sausage.

The form of husbandry is a voluntary labeling system for meat and processed products of pig, beef and poultry. There are four stages with growing requirements for keeping the animals.

Operation in the Münsterland affected

The incident concerned the company RVG, based in the Münsterland, which, after the merger with the cattle center Southwest in the RVZ, based in Württemberg Wolpertshausen. Controllers of the nationwide for quality assurance in the meat economy in the meat industry, the manipulations had uncovered.

The RVZ had switched on the auditing company KPMG and sent its report to the public prosecutor. According to the expertise, there were obvious recurring deception in a total of 43 cases, which were largely related to two RVZ employees. Accordingly, these had access to delivery papers and standard explanations for food chain information and were able to manipulate them. The RVZ has initiated labor law measures against the allegedly responsible employee, the cattle marketer had declared.

Only cattle affected

No other zoo (lambs, sheep, pigs) were affected, the RVZ said further. In addition, neither her damage nor a financial advantage was caused by the deception of the allegedly involved employees. « The subsidiaries and participations of the RVZ were never involved in the events. »

According to its own information, the RVZ fell consequences. Quality management was therefore revised, processes in the supply chain were restructured, and the forms of husbandry were continuously recorded, checked and documented, the company had been informed.