[Quality assurance in food production: a challenge for veterinary food hygiene?]

Production liability, safety regulations as well as marketing strategies are important motivations for companies to establish in-house quality control measures which can be certified by an independent control body. Companies that advertise quality control measures place pressure on opposition companies to follow suite. It follows that certification in foodstuff production will lead to a chain reaction and spread quickly to other companies. In the establishment of a quality assurance system it is just as important to distinguish between quality control and quality assurance as it is to consider the guidelines laid down in the ISO-Standards 9000-9004. After certification according to the ISO-Standards, which dictates certain forms of quality assurance, there is no guarantee that all important risks, such as hygiene risks introduced with technology, can be excluded. In terms of public health monitoring an important responsibility awaits veterinary public health. Strategies and consequences for official monitoring of foodstuffs are presented and discussed.