Kaufland exchanges two branch lines after revelations

After the scandal for hygiene defects at Kaufland, the star And RTL unveiled on Thursday, the supermarket chain replaced the leadership staff in two markets. In the branches in the Upper Bavarian Bad Tölz and in Homburg in Saarland, the company said, according to the German press agency, the company said: “The representations in the report in no way correspond to our strict specifications in dealing with food as well as for cleanliness and hygiene.”

A research team of star And RTL had examined 50 branches of Kaufland across Germany, one of the country’s largest supermarket chains. In 48 of them it was sometimes severe grievances: mouse droppings in a baked goods department and faecal germs on chicken meat, mold on cheese and on refrigerated shelves. Employees reported that they are overloaded – and a working atmosphere of fear. In the end, they said, especially the turnover. In the branch in Bad Tölz, the research team unveiled, among other things, tricks with best -preserving data, in the branch in Homburg massive mouse infestation.

Kaufland shared star And RTL with you, take the information from the research seriously and follow it, some of the defects described “definitely do not correspond to our specifications”. The quality of the products and the protection of customers, a spokeswoman writes, have “top priority for us”. The working atmosphere for employees is also important to the company.

Meanwhile, politicians and the ver.di union are calling for consequences from the scandal. Exputable parties are talking about more staff and more controls to prevent such conditions in the future. In addition, calls become loud that supermarket inputs should be posted, which has resulted in controls.

Corinna Groß, federal specialist group leader for retail at the ver.di trade union, sees the conditions described in Kaufland as a result of a “corporate strategy that relies on a system of pressure and austerity policy”. According to Groß, the employees would be under enormous pressure. The time is often simply missing for appropriate hygiene. And: “Those who complain often suffer from repression.” The trade unionist thinks that Kaufland has spanned the bow, she demands more staff.

Nadine Heselhaus, consumer policy spokeswoman for the SPD parliamentary group, says: “States like the current case at Kaufland are completely unacceptable.” In order to prevent such conditions in the future, Heselhaus demands more controls. It also proposes a nationwide transparency system, for example in the form of a hygienebarometer. In this way, consumers could see directly at the entrance of a supermarket when it was last checked.

The AfD parliamentary group’s agricultural policy spokesman describes the conditions as “frightening”. From Stephan Prosschka’s point of view, it is cost pressure, lack of staff and inefficient processes that led to it could get that far. He says: “Food security must not fall victim to the cost pressure.” He asks companies to meet their responsibility.

Ina Latendorf von der Left brings a reorganization of food surveillance into play. The spokeswoman for consumer protection says that there is a “system error” in Germany. “Federal politics has been refusing to have the problem for over a decade.” The food controls are underfunded in the municipalities and countries, the federal government argues with a lack of responsibility. That has to change. The left-wing politician also demands that the results of food controls are being hung up.