Lower Saxony State Office for Consumer Protection and Food Safety (LAVES)
The Lower Saxony State Office for Consumer Protection and Food Safety (LAVES) is a regional authority for health consumer protection in Lower Saxony, founded on July 1, 2001, with more than 950 employees.
The LAVES is responsible nationwide for the examination and evaluation of official samples from all process and production stages of the food chain, for investigations of animal diseases, feed and commodities. The LAVES includes six inspection facilities: the Food and Veterinary Institutes Oldenburg and Brunswick / Hanover, the Institute for Fish and Fishery Products Cuxhaven, the Institute for Commodities Lüneburg, the Animal Feed Stade and the Institute for Bee Research Celle.
In addition, LAVES, with its five specialist departments at the headquarters in Oldenburg, fulfills immediate enforcement tasks in the areas of food safety, plant approval / export, feed and veterinary drug control, organic farming and market surveillance, and advises local authorities in matters of food control, animal health, animal disease control and animal welfare.
In "times of crisis", LAVES, in particular the two task forces consumer protection and veterinary services, together with the other public health consumer protection authorities in Lower Saxony, take over important key functions in the field of crisis management.
