Food Control by Government Laboratories: Innovation, Flexibility, and No Restrictions by Reglementation

Abstract

Part of the work carried out by the government laboratories is devoted to permanent control of some critical foods and involves well-established and standardized methods. Another part, however, particularly the detection of frauds or poor manufacturing practices, presupposes advanced analytical techniques and flexible politics: an agile sense for hot subjects must be combined with good contacts providing the important information and innovative method development to find ways to obtain the evidence required. As shown for examples, ever new methods and approaches are needed, because the fraud and the negligent worker rapidly adjust to the methods applied for the control – in the end, the analysis may even protect a well arranged fraud. The swindler needs certainty about what the government chemists analyze and what methods they apply, and is, therefore, interested in paralyzing the work of the control, e.g. by requiring that only methods approved by time-consuming procedures are accepted by the court. The control must try to surprise and to create commotion, keeping everyone alert.