Consumer Protection

German Consumer Minister Horst Seehofer said on Friday that he was pleased with the new law and hoped it will deter potential offenders.

He was speaking about the recent scandal involving wholesalers who had stored and sold rotten meat to stores across Germany.

"Nothing upsets people who want to obscure things in this branch more than revealing their names," Seehofer told the Bundesrat, Germany's upper house of parliament.

The new consumer protection law forces food controllers and authorities to publish on the Internet the names and information about retailers who have sold rancid products. The law also requires controllers to point to potentially dangerous food products.

Citizens may also now demand information from authorities themselves, or may be allowed to review authorities' files of dubious food retailers.

Legal loopholes

Critics of the new consumer protection law, however, said it does not go far enough and contains many loopholes.

They point out that authorities could refuse to disclose information if retailers claimed protection under laws protecting trade and company secrets.

Thilo Bode, head of the consumer protection agency Foodwatch, said the new law hinders transparency.

"Rather than creating absolute transparency, the law provides for all sorts of exceptions and back-door solutions," he said, referring to paragraphs in the law that make it possible for authorities and food retailers to refuse to disclose information.

Changes likely after two-year test phase

Green party parliamentary leader and former consumer affairs minister Renate Künast told German public broadcaster ARD that the new law is an improvement, but should have gone further by allowing consumers to get information directly from retail stores instead of inspection authorities.

The German Retailers Association called for sparing use of the law saying premature or unproved reports should not be allowed to make consumers uneasy.

Representatives from Germany's federal states have said that the new guidelines are still not optimal and are likely to be improved after a two-year test phase.

Germany has been under pressure to get the law passed following the rancid meat scandals of late. Until now, food controls have not been the prerogative of the federal government, but rather, the task of the Germany's 16 states.