QS-Report-Meat-and-Meat-Products-1-2019-complete-V2

QS-Report: Meat and Meat Products | Issue May 2019 The 4 levels of the labelling system “Haltungsform” Farming system labelling QS is the benchmark for the rst stage • Farming system labelling • QS antibiotics monitoring • Monitoring of diagnostic data • Listeria monocytogenes • QS Science Funds • News in brief Content Editorial QS-Report Meat and Meat Products 01/2019 Qualitätssicherung. Vom Landwirt bis zur Ladentheke. Dear readers, Since April 2019, the German “big players” in food retail rely on a common four-level farming system labelling. We talked to Christof Mross, Managing Director Purchasing Food at Lidl, about the new label. QS has now developed a supporting document for assist- ing abattoirs and food processing companies in determin- ing the risk of occurrence of listeria and reduce it accord- ingly. Read more about this on page 3. This issue of the QS-Report also includes a supplement with exciting facts and gures on scheme participants, audits, sanction procedures and monitoring programmes for the year 2018. We hope you enjoy it! Your QS-Team Since April 1, 2019, the food retail companies ALDI Nord, ALDI Süd, EDEKA, Kaufland, Lidl, NettoMarken- Discount, PENNY and REWE are la- belling their meat according to the system “Haltungsform”. In this way, the retailers are now estab- lishing a consistent, cross-company framework that provides clarity about how the animals, from which the meat originated, were kept. The “Haltungsform” (farming sys- tem) label is not a new animal wel- fare label but, in view of the variety of existing quality and animal wel- fare labels, it creates the transpar- ency desired by consumers with regards to the farming system for cattle, pigs, chickens and turkeys. For level 1 “Stallhaltung” (sty farm- ing), it is required to have the ap- proval in the QS scheme – for pigs and poultry this requirement is to apply immediately, for cattle it is to apply from January 2020. Level 2 “Stallhaltung plus” (sty farming plus) corresponds to the current requirements of the Initiative Tier- wohl (Animal Welfare Initiative, ITW for its initials in German). Level 3 “Außenklima” (outdoor climate) re- quires, among others, even more space and contact with fresh air. Level 4 “Premium” corresponds to a signi cantly higher level of animal welfare. Meat from organic livestock is generally assigned to level 4. COMPLIANCE WITH LEGAL MINI MUM STANDARDS IS NOT ENOUGH An approval in the QS scheme is a pre- condition for level 1. Ful lling the le- gal minimumstandards is not enough. Participation in the monitoring pro- grammes organized by QS is also de- cisive. The monitoring programmes for feed, salmonella and antibiotics identify and monitor important in- dicators. For the assessment of an- imal health and animal welfare in the sties, all slaughter ndings are evaluated by QS and the results are transmitted to the livestock owners. UNIFORM ANIMAL WELFARE LABEL LING LIDL ALSO CHANGES OVER In 2018, several food retailers had opted for their own farm- ing system labels. Thanks to the common labelling system, the pre- viously different labels of every food retail company will now be converted into a uniform form. Lidl was the first German retailer to publish its own farming system label. By participating in the new “Haltungsform”, the company is now transferring its farming system labelling, which has been success- fully introduced on the market, to the uniform system. “As a founding member of the ITW, which was suc- cessfully launched in 2015 under the coordination of QS Qualität und Sicherheit GmbH and has mean-