Veterinary Medicine Surveillance, Residue Inspection Services

The specialised department Veterinary Medicine Surveillance, Residue Inspection Services focuses on the monitoring of veterinary drugs kept at home. Regular control takes place within the scope of the quality management system for medical drugs laid down by federal law. This inspection aims to monitor whether the stipulations laid down by the legislations for medical drugs and anaesthetics as well as the relevant requirements enforced by advertising legislation are met. Together with the veterinary and food inspection authorities in districts and towns, checks are made to ensure that the stipulations laid down in the legislation for animal diseases in relation to the administering of animal vaccinations are met. Apart from this, controls take place in establishments which handle materials which can be used in veterinary drugs.

The Residue Inspection Service functions nationwide as coordinator, adviser and evaluator for residue monitoring. The focal point in the duties of the residue control service is co-operation in the setting up and implementation of the national residue control plan. The close link with the veterinary drugs surveillance team has proven itself here. The Residue Inspection Service often assumes the role of co-ordinator during times of crisis or in test programmes nationwide.

The antibiotic minimization concept was implemented between 2015 and 2021 as a further focus of veterinary drug monitoring. This included reviewing action plans and on-site inspections on farms. To accomplish this task, LAVES created the “Minimi” database. The database is used to manage, check and document the approximately 11,000 action plans generated annually and to control around 1,500 agricultural operations and livestock species.

Responsibility for antibiotic minimization changed to the veterinary and food inspection authorities in districts and towns in Lower Saxony in 2022. The „Minimi” database has since been made available to the veterinary and food inspection authorities in districts and towns through LAVES. Since then, LAVES has been available to authorities in districts and towns as an advice center for questions about antibiotic minimization, support and data maintenance for the „Minimi” database.

Further tasks of the department include the official monitoring of exemptions in accordance with Section 68 Paragraph 1 No. 2 of the Food and Feed Code, the monitoring of non-product-accompanying advertising for food, consumer goods and tobacco products and the Lower Saxony contact point for internet trading. This was set up for cooperation with the state-financed central office „Control of LFGB products and tobacco products traded on the Internet” (G@ZIELT) in LAVES, which is located in the Federal Office of Consumer Protection and Food Safety (BVL). The aim of this collaboration between the federal and state governments is to create an online marketplace that offers a similar level of product security as conventional retail.

Lower Saxony State Office for Consumer Protection and Food Safety

Dep. 23 - Veterinary Medicine Surveillance, Residue Inspection Services
PO Box 9262
D-26140 Oldenburg
Phone: +49 441 570 26-0
Fax: +49 441 570 26-179
poststelle@laves.niedersachsen.de

Here are the directions to the specialised department Veterinary Medicine Surveillance, Residue Inspection Services.