Lebensmittelhygiene

Hygiene is the top priority when handling food! Carelessness in this area can lead to serious infectious diseases (e.g. salmonella infections), which can be life-threatening, especially for young children or the elderly. Even a very large group of people can quickly be affected by an infection.

Hygiene rules apply to all those who produce, produce, treat or place food on the market (e.g. milk producers, butchers, restaurants). Anyone who produces, treats or places food on the market is obliged to regularly carry out in-house hygiene controls. Only persons who have been trained in food hygiene may be employed.

Particularly strict hygiene rules must be observed when handling open and freshly prepared food. For example, pathogens can multiply very easily in meat, dairy products, eggs, ice cream, delicatessen salads, mayonnaises, sauces, fish or in baked goods with non-baked filling (e.g. cream cakes).

If, in specific cases (e.g. in the food trade, at a street festival or in a restaurant), you have doubts as to whether the hygiene requirements are being met, or if you have health problems after eating something specific, you can contact the food control authority. You can find out more about this topic in the service description "Food monitoring – consumer complaint".

The hygiene rules for the handling of food cover the entire food chain and concern the following areas:

• Feed production and application
• Animal health of food-producing animals
• Primary production (production of food by the farmer, fisherman, hunter, etc.)
• Food processing sites and facilities
• Food handling
• Personal hygiene (infection protection)

Hint: Since the provisions of hygiene law are very detailed, you will only find exemplary excerpts here. More information on the food chain and the interaction between food business operators, monitoring authorities and consumers can be found, for example, in the annual report on the integrated multi-annual individual control plan of the Ministry of the Environment, Climate Change, Agriculture and Consumer Protection

Business premises and facilities

Business premises and associated facilities (e.g. sanitary facilities) must be clean, adequately ventilated and illuminated. Floors, windows and work surfaces must be easy to clean at all times.

Food must not be adversely affected by anything (e.g. by pathogens or spoilage pathogens, but also by odours, dust or pests). Open food must be protected from coughing, sneezing, dust and the like (e.g. by a cover).

Facilities must also be provided to clean or, where appropriate, disinfect dishes and other equipment at any time.

Food handling

When handling food, care must be taken to ensure that it is not adversely affected (e.g. by microbial contamination or unhygienic storage conditions, e.g. in imclean containers). The staff must comply with the regulations of personal hygiene.

All articles that come into contact with food must be clean and undamaged at all times and must not adversely affect them.

In the case of transport containers or other containers for storing food, care must be taken to ensure that they can maintain the required temperature at all times (e.g. when freezing or keeping food warm).

Personal hygiene

Staff must comply with personal hygiene requirements and the provisions of the Infection Protection Act, such as:

• clean and suitable work clothes (headgear when handling unpackaged perishable food)
• regular cleaning of hands
  In any case, hands must be washed before starting work, after each visit to the toilet and after working with raw meat, fish, poultry and eggs. Disposable towels must be provided for drying.

Only people who have no diseases or signs of such food-borne diseases may come into contact with food.

See also: