From the 30th October to the 1st November, the 55th Jahrestagung of the Bund Deutscher Champignon- und Kulturpilzanbauer (BDC) took place in Potsdam. The public part of the annual general meeting included a conference on the subject of quality and a visit to Havelland-Champignon in Tietzow.

150 participants, including 40 from the Netherlands, had gathered in the Seminaris Seehotel in the historic city of Potsdam. As well as growers, there was remarkably high representation of multinationals in the building, spawn or compost fields.

The BDC had made every effort to please visitors with a programme on focussing on quality. A great deal of attention was paid to the addition of the German mushroom chain to the Qualität und Sicherheit-system (QS), and lectures given by Sylvan and AdVisie also embraced this theme. The mood was ‘gemütlich’ (relaxed and friendly), which encouraged business behind the scenes.

Franz Schmaus, chairman of the BDC, opened the conference on the second day. He introduced speaker Hans Deckers from Geldern. This grower gave an impression of the Qualität und Sicherheit-system based on practical experience. He emphasized that certification costs a lot of time, effort and money for growers and doesn't necessarily give the same returns. According to Deckers the point is not to be awarded as many certificates as possible: ”QS is more about breeding a sense of trust.”

QS alongside Eurep-GAP

Thomas May, representative of QS from Bonn, explained how this should happen. The QS-system was first implemented in the meat (processing) industry, now it's the turn of fruit and vegetables and mushrooms. The aim is to make the entire chain shoulder responsibility for food safety, and to introduce a quality standard that guarantees foodstuffs comply with a certain basic quality standard. This also facilitates better crisis management, means participants automatic comply with EU-regulations and encourages the system of company hygiene, tracking and tracing. “And all in a neutral, transparent and dynamic way”, says May.

The QS man continued by mentioning what the system doesn't offer: ”100 percent security, 100 percent market share, replacement of current quality inspection procedures, a release from accepting one's own responsibility, price guarantees and assurance.”

As QS greatly resembles Eurep-GAP, one question from the audience was the relationship between the two systems. May: ”We are working on getting QS certified companies automatically certified for Eurep-GAP at the same time.”

As Eurep-GAP is an internationally implemented and recognised system, another member of the audience was cautious of complying with a German system. “Eurep has not been widely implemented in Germany, people weren't willing to accept the system”, was May's answer. The QS system is open for foreign companies and is actively trying to broaden its scope. In due course, QS and Eurep-GAP should be considered equal, both with a right to exist, according to the QS organisation.

GEPC

The next speaker was Eberhard Peters, editor of trade journal Der Champignon and representative of the BDC at the Groupement Européene des Producteurs de Champignons (GEPC), talking about the activities of this European organisation which include: information exchange between participating countries, placing the industry on the map in Brussels, EU-standards and import quota, gathering market information and finally, promotional activities.

Peters underlined the importance of the GEPC. The GEPC is sometimes criticised as being a discussion group- according to Peters a misplaced view: “We need each other.”

In 2004 the Groupement will be meeting at the Dutch Mushroom Days.

AdVisie

Henk van Gerwen's lecture covered the subject of CACing and quality. He went into detail about the history, application and advantages of CACing. If applied correctly CACing provides better mycelium quality, a better exchange of nutrients and water, less risk of bacterial blotches, an easier harvest and ultimately better quality mushrooms. (The next edition will contain more details about Van Gerwen's lecture.)

Sylvan

Régis d’Arnoux, responsbile for quality at Sylvan, spoke on the subject of ‘How can the spawn market contribute to quality assurance?’ It's quite clear that Sylvan have built-in exhaustive quality inspections during all stages of production. In short, the following aspects should provide a quality product: test protocol, standard methods, implementing inspections at each production phase, creating diversity and meticulous up dating of a worldwide database. “Our clients' input is however the main key to progress in the area of quality”, says d’Arnoux.

A member of the audience remarked that a good independent quality test for spawn was missing for buyers. D’Arnoux had to admit “A ‘miracle test’ was in fact lacking”.

According to Ger Hendriks of Sylvan Nederland, there are many unanswered questions. “That's why feedback from and cooperation with growers is so crucial. The best test is done on the actual farm.”

Pilzgarten

Wolfram Rühe-Müller of Pilzgarten in Helvesiek gave a presentation about his flourishing enterprise, dedicated to growing specialty mushrooms. Since the takeover by the Rühe-Müller family in 2000, Pilzgarten has 'mushroomed' into a sizeable and important company that produces 2000 tons of substrate and 350 tons of edible fungi annually, with the focus on shii-take. Pilzgarten took centre stage again during the Hessischer Pilztag on 6th November (see page 20 in this edition).

Havelland-Champignon

Recovering after a long night of partying, Jahrestagung participants travelled on the last day to Havelland-Champignon in Tietzow, to the north west of Berlin. Mr. Haas lead a tour through the brand new plant, where mushrooms are tray-grown. The plant is part of the Dohme group.

This tunnel company is made up of a huge tray handling line and nine compost tunnels (200 ton compost per tunnel), momentarily being completed by the Christiaens Group. The phase 1 compost is provided by Verschoor, the casing soil by Euroveen. Two spawn strains are cultivated, Alpha from Amycel and the A15 from Sylvan.

A small distance away is the mushroom farm, with 28 growing rooms of 580 square metres. Each room contains 216 aluminium trays. Weekly production: 70 tons of mushrooms.

The farm has 100 employees. The - mainly Polish - pickers are housed on the premises in specially- built accomodation. The open day ended with a party.