Head Office

Administration, development, co-ordination and the formation of rules and regulations take place in the head office of the Danish Veterinary and Food Administration in Mørkhøj near Copenhagen.

Furthermore the Meat Inspection Unit is part of the head office, but placed in Vejle in the eastern part of Jutland.
Read more about the Meat Inspection Unit.

Executive Board
The Executive Board consists of the executive director and three deputy directors.

Executive Director, Esben Egede Rasmussen

Chief Veterinary Officer, Per Henriksen

Deputy Director, Annelise Fenger

Financial director, Lars Gregersen

Secretariat for Legal Affairs
This secretariat is responsible for:

Coordination of legal advisory services for the Veterinary and Food Administration including legislative technique service
Coordination and preparation of the annual Legislation Program
Coordination of input for cases before the European Court of Justice
Administrative Law including i.e. the Public Administration Act, the Open Administration Act and the Personal Data Act
Public Tender and Contractual Law
Legal assistance for the Veterinary Health Council.

Head of Secretariat: Ulrich Pinstrup

Secretariat to the Veterinary Health Counsil
The Danish Veterinary and Food Administration gives secretariat assistance to the Veterinary Health Counsil.

Professional Secretary: Lissi vestergaard Karlsen, Veterinarian

Centre for Veterinary Disease Control, Animal Welfare and Trade
The Centre is responsible for:
    • Trade of live animals (intercommunity trade)
    • Animal by-products
    • Animal health and veterinary preparedness
    • Export of live animals, animal products and food
    • Import of live animals, animal products and food
    • Animal welfare
    • Zootechnique
    • Veterinary epidemiology and health management
    • Veterinary medicine

Control Coordination Division (2)
This division is responsible for:

Control principles and strategies.
Veterinary and food control in general, including the development of tools for the regional centres to ensure uniform quality in their performance of the control effort.
Instructing the regional veterinary and food control centres in general inspection matters.
Supervision of the regional veterinary and food control centres.
Case follow-up in relation to the inspection performed by the regional veterinary and food control centres.
Internal control.
Coordination of regional laboratories and central coordination of laboratory projects.
Traceability.
Publicising inspection results.
Collecting and processing data from the inspection and the regional veterinary and food centres.

Head of Division: Bettine Aundrup

Division for Microbiological Food Safety, Hygiene and Zoonoses Control (4)
This division is responsible for:

Strategies and action plans to combat pathogens such as campylobacter in foodstuffs and salmonella and salmonellosis in foodstuffs and livestock.
Microbiological contamination.
Tracing the route of infection in the event of food-borne illnesses.
Hygiene, fitting up and operation of food companies.
Hygiene training.
Authorisation and registration of food companies.
BSE/TSE (food safety).
Zoonoses Register.
Monitoring zoonoses in general (food-borne).

Head of Division: Karin Breck

Division for Food Quality, Techonology and Marketing Practices (6)
This division is responsible for:

Organic food products.
Product standards, trade norms and market schemes.
Genetic engineering and other novel foods.
Irradiation of foodstuffs.
Additives in foodstuffs, including aromatics and enzymes.
Marketing of foodstuffs, including misleading information.
Labelling of food products.
Specific labelling schemes, including schemes regarding beef, geographic designations, designations of origin and specificities.
Chemical contaminants e.g. dioxin, acrylamide, pesticides.
Food contact materials.
Cleaning and disinfection agents.

Head of Division: Henrik Dammand Nielsen

Division for Nutrition (7)
This division is responsible for:

Promotion of good dietary habits among children and adults.
Prevention of obesity among children and adults (in cooperation with the National Board of Health).
Provision of information to segments of the population with special nutritional needs.
Enriched foodstuffs.
Dietary supplements.
Special nutrition.
Nutritional assertions and health-related assertions.
Nutrition information declarations.

Head of Division: Else Molander

Communication Division (8)
This division is responsible for:

Planning, development and implementation of communications policy and strategy.
Press contacts and consultancy related to this.
Digital communications and the website of the Veterinary and Food Administration.
Nutrition information and the information website service Alt om Kost.
Editing and publication of reports, brochures, etc.
Information campaigns and teaching materials.
Internal communications and the Intranet.

Head of Communications: Sidsel Addington

Division for International Coordination
This division is responsible for:

Coordination of matters related to international and supranational organisations such as the EU (Council, CVO, SCoFCAH ect.), Nordic cooperation, Codex Alimentarius and OIE
Secretariat services for the Ministry Department and the minister in handling the national 'EU procedure' and EU legislative procedures. Coordination of ministers participation in export promotion activities, ect.
Coordination of input for cases before the European Court of Justice
International affairs - support and coordination.
Assistance for third countries concerning development of food and veterinary safety

Head of Division: Knud Østergaard

Finance and Accounts Division
This division is responsible for:

Appropriations, allocations, budget and accounts.
Overall activity and finance management, as well as reporting.
Bookkeeping.
Procurement, travel administration and publications.

Head of Division: Kim Hastrup and Søren Abildgaard

Human Resources Division
This division is responsible for:

Human resources development.
Personnel administration.
Organisational development.
Administration of supplementary training offers and competency development.
Payroll administration, including regional payroll administration.
Case management unit, including common records for the head office of the Veterinary and Food Administration.
Secretariat for the Joint Liaison Committee and the Joint Health and Safety Committee.
Secretariat for the divisional Liaison Committee and the divisional Health and Safety Committee in the head office of the Veterinary and Food Administration.

Head of Human Resources: Susanne Juul Jarlov

IT Division
This division is responsible for:

IT management and organisation.
Corporate IT in the Ministry of Family and Consumer Affairs.
IT strategy and policy.
Project management.
IT security management.
IT service delivery and support.
IT operations.

Head of the IT Division: Annette Madsen