Pot Secret - Freeing thousands of Food Safety Reports
Yesterday we launched “Pot Secret” (“Topf Secret” in German) - a platform against secrecy at food authorities. Consumers can use this platform to obtain the results of food safety inspections in restaurants, bakeries, supermarkets and other food-processing businesses.
Together with our partner foodwatch, we created a platform that enables all people to quickly and easily send pre-formulated freedom of information requests about businesses to the relevant authorities.
“Pot Secret” is based on a map that displays all food-related businesses that can be found in OpenStreetMap. Users can select any venue - from restaurants to bakeries to petrol stations - via a search function or by zoomin in on the map. All users need to do is enter their name, e-mail and postal address, which will be sent to the appropriate regional authority together with a prepared text.
We need a Transparency Law
With this campaign, we not only want to make it possible for citizens to exercise their right to information. We want to put pressure on the government to enact proactive transparency laws on food safety. So far, most of the results of food safety inspections have been kept secret. Federal Nutrition Minister Julia Klöckner must create the legal basis for a transparency system like the one in Denmark, Wales or Norway. All the results of official food safety inspections are published there, on the Internet and directly on the shop door.
So far, our campaign has proven how big public interest in transparency of food safety is: More than 4,500 requests were filed in the first 24 hours of the campaign already.