Overview

• Foodwatch filed a suit on July 24 at the Verwaltungsgericht Regensburg to force Landratsamt Straubing-Bogen to release inspection reports for Alois Rainer’s former butcher shop.
• The Landratsamt insists it cannot provide the documents because the business was deregistered on May 27 and its associated inn is now run by Rainer’s son, eliminating any legal entitlement to the records.
• A ministry spokesperson says the closure stemmed from legal prohibitions on ministers holding businesses, staffing shortages, and the son’s decision not to continue the operation, not from the transparency request.
• A routine hygiene inspection on the day of deregistration found only minor violations—such as empty paper‐towel dispensers and a roughened floor—that were immediately corrected.
• The court’s decision will clarify how Germany’s Verbraucherinformationsgesetz applies when an officeholder deregisters a private enterprise to manage potential conflicts of interest.