Judgment contradicts calibration office
Sausage skin counts towards the package weight
24.05.2024, 15:15
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The Higher Administrative Court in Münster is dealing with sausage: The Weights and Measures Office has objected to a manufacturer counting the casing and closure clips in the weight of its packaged sausage. However, the second instance has overturned the sales ban imposed.
The filling quantity of pre-packaged sausages also includes the inedible sausage casing and closure clips. This was decided by the North Rhine-Westphalia Higher Administrative Court (OVG) in Münster. It thereby overturned a decision from the lower court at the Münster Administrative Court. There, a company had lost its lawsuit against a ban on the sale of its products because there were a few grams too few sausages in the packaging.
During inspections in 2019, the Calibration Office had objected to the fact that parts of the packaging that were not edible were included in the count during filling. In doing so, it referred to the Food Information Ordinance from 2014. Wrongfully, as the Higher Administrative Court has now decided. The Senate has allowed the appeal to the Federal Administrative Court in Leipzig because of its fundamental importance (case number: 4 A 779/23).
The Higher Administrative Court overturned the prohibition order issued by the Office of Weights and Measures on the grounds that a European directive from 1976 was still applicable. It stipulates that the filling quantity is to be understood as the quantity of product, which also includes the inedible sausage casing and closure parts. If the term were interpreted differently, a sale at a meat counter with the product being weighed on site would not be possible, for example, the Higher Administrative Court explains.
According to the calibration office, a good two grams are missing
The calibration office had argued that the filling quantity only included the pure sausage. In the random samples, the calibration office had found that two products contained 2.3 and 2.6 grams less sausage. The production company from the Warendorf district had argued that the 130 grams stated on the packaging were achieved with the casing and clips. In its decision, the OVG referred to a directive of the European Economic Community (EEC), a predecessor of today’s European Union (EU).
“With the Food Information Regulation, which has been in force since 2014, the Union legislator has not changed the legal situation that previously applied with regard to the determination of the filling quantity of pre-packaged foods and pre-packaged foods, but has made reference to it for pre-packaged foods,” the court’s statement states. According to the EEC Directive of 1976, which is still relevant, the filling quantity is to be understood as the quantity of product that the pre-packaged food actually contains.