Supermarkets in the Czech Republic have recalled 17.5 tonnes of Polish pork after it was found to contain more than 60 times the permitted level of antibiotics.
The pork was purchased from Poland and processed by Czech company Maso Uzeniny Polička before stocking the shelves of supermarket chain Lidl, according to Tygodnik Poradnik Rolniczy, a Polish agricultural weekly.
The European Commission has found 'serious shortcomings' in oversight of meat production in Poland after carrying out an audit following a recent scandal over the export of beef from sick cows https://t.co/Wavnu42ClP
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) April 16, 2019
Samples of the meat had been submitted to veterinary tests, which found that they contained 60 times more antibiotics than the 50 µg/kg permitted under local regulations. This was mainly amoxicillin, a type of penicillin used to treat bacterial infections.
The processing company had not waited for the test results before sending the minced meat to stores with a sell-by date of 10 October. As a result, it has now had to recall around 17.5 tonnes.
Petr Majer, the spokesman for the Czech State Veterinary Administration, said that consumers should not eat the meat and should take it back to the shop where they bought it.
Farmers have placed 356 cabbages outside parliament tagged with the names of MPs who backed an animal welfare bill, to symbolise their "empty heads".
The legislation would ban fur farming and limit ritual slaughter for meat, both big export industries https://t.co/6GSefpaSGm
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) September 24, 2020
As the Czech government has been seeking to promote domestic food production over imports from Poland, there has been a large amount of reaction to the pork case, reports Tygodnik Poradnik Rolniczy. Prime Minister Andrej Babiš has ties to the Agrofert conglomerate holding company and is seen as “an enemy of Polish food”, the newspaper notes.
The pork case follows similar instances of food imports from Poland raising the concern of Czech sanitary services.
In August, Milka ice cream produced in Poland was found to be contaminated with carcinogenic ethylene oxide from a gas used as an antifreeze. This led to the withdrawal of 250,000 popsicles, 15,000 multipacks and about 37,000 ice cream trays, reported Prague Morning.
Last February, the Czech veterinary authorities called for emergency measures after salmonella was detected in around 700 kg of beef from Poland. Czech agriculture minister Miroslav Toman said at the time that officials were considering a ban on Polish imports, reported Reuters.
Meat is a big Polish exporter. The country sent 652,000 tonnes of swine livestock and pork products abroad between January and November 2020, according to the National Support Centre for Agriculture. The main buyers were Germany (11%), Slovakia (8%) and Italy (8%). Poland annually produces about 560,000 tonnes of beef and exports 85%.
Poles themselves are increasingly cutting down on consumption of meat, however, with sales falling 7.5% since 2018. A poll last year found that 8.4% of Poles do not eat meat and, of the remainder, almost 40% were trying to cut down on consumption. The most commonly cited reason was concern over the quality of meat.
Maria Wilczek is deputy editor of Notes from Poland. She is a regular writer for The Times, The Economist and Al Jazeera English, and has also featured in Foreign Policy, Politico Europe, The Spectator and Gazeta Wyborcza.
