A charge of a catalyst having, as active phase, a multimetal oxide composition of the formula I or II [X 1 a X 2 b O x ] p [X 3 c X 4 d X 5 e X 6 f X 7 g X 2 h O y ] q (I) Mo 12 Bi i X 8 k Fe l X 9 m X 10 n O z (II) in which X 1 is bismuth, tellurium, antimony, tin and/or copper, X 2 is molybdenum and/or tungsten, X 3 is an alkali metal, thallium and/or samarium, X 4 is an alkaline earth metal, nickel, cobalt, copper, manganese, zinc, tin, cadmium and/or mercury, X 5 is iron, chromium, cerium and/or vanadium, X 6 is phosphorus, arsenic, boron and/or antimony, X 7 is a rare earth metal, titanium, zirconium, niobium, tantalum, rhenium, ruthenium, rhodium, silver, gold, aluminum, gallium, indium, silicon, germanium, lead, thorium and/or uranium, a is 0.01 to 8, b is 0.1 to 30, c is 0 to 4, d is 0 to 20, e is 0 to 20, f is 0 to 6, g is 0 to 15, h is 8 to 16, x, y are numbers determined by the valency and frequency of the non-oxygen elements in I, p, q are numbers having a p/q ratio of 0.1 to 10, X 8 is cobalt and/or nickel, X 9 is silicon and/or aluminum, X 10 is an alkali metal, i is 0.1 to 2, k is 2 to 10, 1 is 0.5 to 10, m is 0 to 10, n is 0 to 0.5, z is a number determined by the valency and frequency of the non-oxygen elements in II, of at least 1 t, where the standard deviation in the activity of randomly taken samples from the charge, expressed as the temperature at which a propene conversion of 95% is obtained when a mixture of 5% by volume of propene, 9.5% by volume of oxygen and 85.5% by volume of nitrogen is passed over 100 g of catalyst at 100 L (STP)/h, is less than 7°C, where the number of samples is at least 1 sample per 100 kg and the size of a sample is 1 kg, from which 100 g are taken to determine the activity after homogenization, wherein the charge is obtainable by producing a particulate catalyst precursor comprising oxides and/or compounds, convertible to oxides, of the non-oxygen elements that constitute the multimetal oxide composition, and this is converted by calcination to a catalytically active form, wherein a stream of the particulate catalyst precursor, for calcination, is passed at an essentially constant rate through at least one calcination zone, where the maximum variation in temperature with time and the maximum local temperature differential in the calcination zone is ≤ 5°C in each case. X 1 is bismuth, tellurium, antimony, tin and/or copper, X 2 is molybdenum and/or tungsten, X 3 is an alkali metal, thallium and/or samarium, X 4 is an alkaline earth metal, nickel, cobalt, copper, manganese, zinc, tin, cadmium and/or mercury, X 5 is iron, chromium, cerium and/or vanadium, X 6 is phosphorus, arsenic, boron and/or antimony, X 7 is a rare earth metal, titanium, zirconium, niobium, tantalum, rhenium, ruthenium, rhodium, silver, gold, aluminum, gallium, indium, silicon, germanium, lead, thorium and/or uranium, a is 0.01 to 8, b is 0.1 to 30, c is 0 to 4, d is 0 to 20, e is 0 to 20, f is 0 to 6, g is 0 to 15, h is 8 to 16, x, y are numbers determined by the valency and frequency of the non-oxygen elements in I, p, q are numbers having a p/q ratio of 0.1 to 10, X 8 is cobalt and/or nickel, X 9 is silicon and/or aluminum, X 10 is an alkali metal, i is 0.1 to 2, k is 2 to 10, 1 is 0.5 to 10, m is 0 to 10, n is 0 to 0.5, z is a number determined by the valency and frequency of the non-oxygen elements in II, <EOS>