On the eve of the creation of the new Luxembourg veterinary and food agency, Paulette Lenert, Minister for Consumer Protection, Romain Schneider, Minister for Agriculture, Viticulture and Rural Development, and Reinhold Jost, Minister for the Environment and Consumer Protection of the Saarland, visited yesterday the infrastructures and equipment of the Laboratory of Veterinary Medicine (LMVE) and the food monitoring service of the Department of Health Protection of LNS, both located on the same site in Dudelange.

The Laboratory of Veterinary Medicine carries out analyses in the fields of animal health as well as food safety of foodstuffs of animal origin, while the LNS food monitoring unit carries out the official control of other foodstuffs as well as animal feed at the request of several administrations and inspection services.

In the margins of the visit, a memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed by the heads of LMVE, LNS and two laboratories located in Saarland in Germany (Landesamt für Umwelt- und Arbeitsschutz and Landesamt für Verbraucherschutz) in the presence of Ministers Paulette Lenert, Romain Schneider and Reinhold Jost. The objective of this MoU is to promote transnational collaboration between laboratories in the Greater Region.

Thanks to their collaboration, the various laboratories pool their skills in order to carry out a wide range of analyses under the best possible conditions, and thus ensure food safety for the consumers concerned more effectively.

It should be noted that throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, the laboratories ensured the continuity of their analyses, thus guaranteeing the maintenance of their systemic importance in food control.

(de g. à dr.) Dr. Joachmin Sartorius, ministère de l’Environnement et de la Sécurité du travail de la Sarre ; Dr Kerstin Scherer-Herr, ministère de la Protection des consommateurs de la Sarre ; Reinhold Jost, ministre de l’Environnement et de la Protection des consommateurs de la Sarre ; Paulette Lenert, ministre de la Protection des consommateurs ; Romain Schneider, ministre de l’Agriculture, de la Viticulture et du Développement rural ; Prof. Friedrich Mühlschlegel, directeur du Laboratoire national de santé (LNS) ; Dr Félix Wildschutz, directeur la Division de l’Inspection vétérinaire, ministère de l’Agriculture, de la Viticulture et du Développement rural; Thomas Wegner, COO LNS