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Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and is published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.
The frontrunner in Poland’s presidential race, Rafał Trzaskowski, has been accused by the opposition of presenting German-made pickled cucumbers as a Polish product.
However, the producer of the pickles in question subsequently confirmed that they are, in fact, made in Poland. Trzaskowski has called on the opposition to apologise to the firm.
Przeproście. Po prostu. pic.twitter.com/1h9edXeaHK
— Rafał Trzaskowski (@trzaskowski_) April 8, 2025
The controversy began after Trzaskowski – the candidate of the centrist Civic Coalition (KO), Poland’s main ruling party – gave a campaign speech during which he said that, as president, he would be “an ambassador of Polish industry, of all Polish products, of Polish entrepreneurship” around the world.
“The president should support Polish companies and, even if he flies to the other end of the world, he should take Polish entrepreneurs and [representatives of] Polish companies on the plane and convince the whole world that it should be open to our investments and buying our goods,” he added.
Trzaskowski then showed the crowd examples of Polish products that have succeeded abroad, such as Prince Polo chocolate wafer bars, which he said are popular in Iceland, and Solidarity chocolates, which have been a hit in Azerbaijan.
The politician also brandished a jar of pickles produced by Polish firm Urbanek, which he said are “in every store in Mongolia” and should be “promoted all over the world”.
However, after his speech, a number of politicians from the national-conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party, Poland’s main opposition, shared images on social media purporting to show that the pickles in question were actually produced in Germany for Urbanek.
They suggested that this was typical of KO, which PiS regularly accuses of representing foreign – and especially German – interests rather than Polish ones.
Some commentators also noted that Prince Polo bars are produced by a company that has been foreign-owned since 1993, when it was bought by US confectionery giant Kraft Foods (now known as Mondelez International).
In his speech, Trzaskowski did acknowledge that there had been “American investment” in Prince Polos, and said they could be presented to President Donald Trump as “the best possible symbol between Poland and the United States”.
In response to the controversy, Urbanek issued a statement to broadcaster TVN confirming that the product Trzaskowski had shown during his speech (pickled cucumbers cut into cubes) is, in fact, produced in Poland.
The firm said that 99.7% of its products are made in Poland, with the only exception being one type of sandwich cucumber that “is produced abroad due to its unique local recipe”. In a separate statement to local news website Lowiaczin.info, Urbanek confirmed that that one product is made in Germany.
Meanwhile, Trzaskowski himself also took to social media to show that the label on the pickles he had presented at the rally confirmed they were produced in Poland.
“I never thought I’d have to explain this: these are cucumbers from Urbanek, a family firm from Łowicz, which are produced here in Poland,” he said. Trzaskowski then suggested to PiS politicians that “instead of smelling a conspiracy, just apologise to the company or, even better, buy their products”.
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Poland’s presidential election will take place on 18 May. If no candidate wins more than 50% of the vote, a second-round run-off between the top two will take place on 1 June.
Trzaskowski is currently the favourite for victory, with his average support in the polls standing at around 38%. Polling also indicates he would win a second-round run-off against either of his two main opponents.
The PiS-backed candidate, Karol Nawrocki, is currently second in the polls, on around 20% support, narrowly ahead of Sławomir Mentzen, the candidate of the far-right Confederation (Konfederacja) party, on 19%.
Rolling weekly average of support in the polls for the main candidates in Poland’s presidential election, compiled by ewybory.eu
Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.
Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.
