After Wilke now also Wilhelm Brandenburg?

A report published on Wednesday by the Hessischer Rundfunk about hygiene deficiencies and incomplete controls in the wholesale butcher's shop belonging to the Rewe Group brings back memories of the hygiene scandal in the North Hessian sausage factory in 2019, which sold food that had gone so bad that people fell ill after consuming it or even died.

In the case of Wilhelm Brandenburg GmbH & Co. OHG, both the company and the city of Frankfurt, which is responsible for food controls, are now defending themselves against the allegations and emphasizing: There are no serious hygienic deficiencies in the company or even a risk for the consumer. Wilhelm Brandenburg is the largest butcher shop in Hesse, 1,400 employees process 1,350 tons of meat per week, most of which are sold in the supermarket chains Rewe and Penny.

The city and the company do not deny that the monthly, unannounced inspections by the veterinary office have regularly identified deficiencies, some of which have been noted in logs several times over a longer period of time.

The Hessischer Rundfunk is now quoting from these 106 reports from the past five years and reporting on numerous structural defects in company buildings, mold, soiling, defective washing systems and the like.

In addition, the station lets a former food inspector have the opinion that the veterinary office controls far too rarely.

The damage is "inevitable"

The Frankfurt Veterinary Office considers this interpretation of its own reports to be wrong. The complaints are far from "glaring defects", in 95 percent of the cases it was about structural inadequacies, which could also include a broken tile or a rusted nail in the wall, said Detlef Thiele, head of the office. The frequency of the controls is determined by a Hesse-wide uniform testing system. The visits could only be random samples: "The manufacturer has the main responsibility for food safety, we control the quality of his controls, so to speak."

Many complaints concern damage that cannot be avoided in day-to-day operations and that they are usually eliminated quickly, added Markus Limberger, the Brandenburg inspector. He admitted that there was a phase in which he was dissatisfied with the cooperation with the company. Since the end of 2020, however, there has been a noticeable improvement.

The Rewe Group also refers to this and, for its part, quotes from a protocol from the veterinary office from March: “The large number of structural defects is also due to the fact that these occur repeatedly in several rooms.

However, this is not uncommon for a facility of this size and production capacity.

It is important that the building services or external service providers are in constant processing.

Despite the number of deficiencies, it should be noted that the structural situation in the company has improved since the last inspection by the licensing authority in November 2019. "

Buildings will soon be abandoned

Rewe also emphasizes: "The structural deficiencies found in 2020 or earlier have no impact on product quality / safety and occupational safety." certified to a strict standard.

Some of the company buildings date from the 1950s, but are due to be closed in a few years.

After the company had not found an alternative location in Frankfurt, a new building is planned in Erlensee near Hanau.

Work is scheduled to begin next year.