Maximum food safety, best quality and sustainability have always been our prerequisites.

Our certifications are checked and confirmed every year by independent institutions.

CERTIFICATION

QS Broker Meat and Meat Products

ZENTRAG was certified for the first time in 2022 according to the QS standard for meat and meat products at the wholesale meat level by Lacon GmbH, an independent and neutral certification body.

The QS testing system for food is the leading standard for food safety in Germany. The QS certification mark ensures cross-stage quality assurance for meat and meat products – starting with the inspection of feed, to the livestock farms, to the subsequent production and trading steps and finally to the shop counter.

CERTIFICATION

Animal Welfare Initiative / Initiative Tierwohl (ITW)

ZENTRAG has been part of the Animal Welfare Initiative since 2022 and is thus committed to its responsibility for animal husbandry, animal health and animal welfare in livestock farming. Within this framework, it is committed to providing participating pig, chicken and turkey farmers with an animal welfare surcharge that is uniformly determined by the ITW. The suppliers, in turn, pass on the surcharge along the value chain, all the way to the animal farmer. Farmers are thus financially supported to implement measures for the welfare of their livestock that go beyond the legal standards.

Meat products that come from a farm that participates in the Animal Welfare Initiative and implements the defined animal welfare criteria are labelled with the Animal Welfare Initiative seal. The product seal thus provides more orientation when shopping.

CERTIFICATION

IFS Broker

In 2023 ZENTRAG eG has been certified with the quality and food safety standard IFS Broker with the best possible rating “Higher Level”.

IFS-Standards such as the IFS Broker are developed for and with all the participants in the supply chain, to ensure product safety and quality and to close the gaps between production and logistics.

IFS Broker or International Featured Standard Broker is a standardised procedure for the certification of the quality management of trading companies – an absolute prerequisite for being allowed to supply the food retailers. This procedure based on the rules of the International Food Standard shall ensure the quality of foodstuffs in the food retail trade, the health of consumers and the quality level of suppliers.

Good to know: the IFS-certification becomes an ever more important competitive advantage for our member cooperatives and economic organisations too. That is why we at ZENTRAG eG have concluded a frame agreement with the certification company, so that our members can benefit from these attractive conditions for their own certification.

CERTIFICATION

Organic-Food Certificate

Since 2007 ZENTRAG eG is also certified with the Organic-Food Certificate (BIO) for processed foodstuffs. The service providers we engaged, QAL GmbH until 2014 and Lacon GmbH since 2015, are independent and neutral certification companies.

The organic label stands for environmentally sound and animal-friendly production methods. The criteria for the awarding of the label are based on the EU legislation for organic farming.

They stipulate among others:

  • Banning of chemical, synthetic pesticides and mineral nitrogen fertiliser
  • Species-appropriate animal keeping: Feeding of the animals with ecological food. Livestock should have access to open-air or grazing areas.
  • Banning of genetic engineering

Organic products can be traced back to the producer. Licensed supervisory authorities check at least once a year the whole production site. Only producers, processing and import companies complying to these (and more) requirements and undergoing the prescribed audits are entitled to sell their products under the label „organic“.

The organic certification enables ZENTRAG to trade organic products from other producers. But that’s not all: ZENTRAG eG also offers its clients certified organic products within the Gilde assortment, among which:

  • Gilde Organic-Chicken
  • Gilde Organic-Turkey
  • Gilde Organic-Poultry sausages
  • Gilde Organic-Poultry convenience
  • Gilde Organic-Barbecue assortments
  • Gilde Organic-Pork
  • Gilde Organic-Veal
  • Gilde Organic-Beef