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Data Protection Declaration
Imprint
The Federal Office of Consumer Protection and Food Safety (BVL)
Institution
Section overview
Description
Numerous crises like dioxin-afflicted feed, misuse of antibiotics in pig feeding and finally, the emergence of BSE in Germany in the late 1990s unsettled the trust of the populace in food safety. Following the recommendation in the report of the President of the Federal Court of Audit, Hedda von Wedel, the Federal Agency (subsequently Federal Office) of Consumer Protection and Food Safety was founded in the course of the re-organization of health-related consumer protection in January 2002. For the purpose of improving coordination between the Federal Government and the Federal States (Bundesländer) as well as improving the communication of risks, it was established as the authority responsible for risk management. Moreover, risk assessment and risk management, which were previously handled by a single institution, were split to facilitate an improvement of the transparency of state actions. The duties of the authority are stipulated in the BVL-Act as well as in various specialist laws in the area of food, commodities, feed, plant protection, veterinary medical products and genetic engineering legislation.
Activities
- Research
Coordinated projects
Involved in research projects
- Assessment of the efficacy of biocides used in storage situations, according to national law (ChemG) and national authorizations
- Characterization of emerging resistance mechanisms to β-lactam antibiotics (fluoro) quinolones in E. coli and S. enterica isolates from cattle and sick animals
- Collaborative project: Development of automated procedures for the identification and assessment of non-compliant Products of the e-Food market place. Subproject 1
- Collaborative project: Development of automated procedures for the identification and assessment of non-compliant Products of the e-Food market place. Subproject 2
- Cooperation in the analysis of risks as part of the registration process for plant protection products
- Coordination of risk assessment for efficacy of plant protection substances
- Development and annual application of the risk indicator SYNOPS-TREND to assess and visualize the risk trend of the pesticide use on national level
- Development and improvement of methods for the risk/benefit assessment of the efficacy of plant protection products
- Development of criteria for the assessment of benefit and evaluation of plant protection products
- Development of criteria for the assessment of benefit and evaluation of the benefit of herbicides
- Development of methods testing the efficacy of plant protection products as part of their risk-benefit assessment in horticulture
- Efficacy assessment of plant protection products
- Effiicacy assessment of active substances
- Elaboration of the technical basis of decision-making aids for pesticide application (i. e. through GIS-supported potential and risk maps) and the modelling of fate (i. e. drift and passive dispersal)
- Enhancements of efficacy test methods for the risk/benefit assessment of plant protection substances in forests (insecticidws, rodenticides, repellents)
- Exposure to residents and bystanders following high crop applications of plant protection products (3D drift detection)
- Further development of IT Tools for real outbreak investigation applications
- Geographical analysis (GIS) of agrarian landscapes (i. e. for further development of the official register of regionalized small features; habitat analysis)
- Honey bee risk assessment
- Knowledge portal under the JKI homepage on the topic of 'beneficial organisms friendly plant protection'
- Participation in the coordination of the risk assessment for the evaluation area efficacy in the BBA
- Participation in the EC evaluation of active substances in forest protection agents, rodenticides and repellent
- Participation in the EC evaluation of active substances of herbicides
- Participation in the EU evaluation of active substances in plant protection products for horticulture, fruits, viticulture and hops
- Participation in the preparation of the list of minor uses and publication in the Minor Use Portal of the EU
- Practical Implementation of Coexistence in Europe (PRICE)
- Risiko-/Nutzenbewertung effectiveness of the testing of plant protection products in the forest (approval / authorization, grant of consent)
- Risk assessment and opinion on applications for placing on the market of GMOS and products derived from GMOs
- Risk assessment of the test area efficacy in the authorization / approval of plant protection products in the forestry and grant of consent
- Risk-benefit assessment by the efficacy evaluation section as part of the authorisation/approval of fungicides, bactericides and growth regulators in vegetables, fruits, viticulture and ornamentals as well as declaration of agreement
- Risk-benefit assessment by the efficacy evaluation section as part of the authorisation/approval of insectides and acaricides in vegetables, fruits, viticulture, hops and ornamentals as well as declaration of agreement
- Risk-benefit assessment by the efficacy evaluation section as part of the authorisation/approval of plant protection products in private homes and gardens
- Risk/benefit assessment for the evaluation of efficacy for the authorisation/approval of herbicides and declaration of the agreement
- Scientific evalution and assessment of the efficacy of plant protection products and active substances used in stored product protection (biological efficacy, risk of resistance and risk management, minimum effective dose tests, undesirable effects on quality of plant products), including the evaluation
- Securing the food and feed supply chain from potential bio- and agro-terroristic attempts (SiLeBAT)
- Standardization of analytical methods for mycotoxins; provision of evaluated analytical methods for the official collection of analytical methods according to §64 LFGB and food controlling
- Total genome sequencing of S. aureus, B. cereus and clostridia by NGS: Genetic structures of antibiotic resistance, virulence factors and species demarcation
Contact
The Federal Office of Consumer Protection and Food Safety
(BVL)
Bundesallee 51
38116 Braunschweig
Lower Saxony
Germany
Phone: 03018 444-99999
Fax: 03018 444-99099
Email: poststelle(@)bvl.bund.de
