• 1,256 lots of fruit and vegetables were examined in February by the Trade Inspection Authority in 98 supermarkets. The campaign was conducted as part of additional control measures ordered by Tomasz Chróstny, President of UOKiK.
• Trade Inspection Authority controllers questioned 10 percent of all products checked due to missing information about their country of origin, or due to Poland being misleadingly indicated as the country of origin.
• The largest share of irregularities was identified in the following supermarket chains: Delikatesy Centrum (36.1 percent), Intermarche (15.6 percent) and Stokrotka (13.9 percent).

The President of UOKiK Tomasz Chróstny ordered, on 12 February 2020, that additional inspections be conducted at stores belonging to large commercial chains in order to verify whether the fruit and vegetables offered there are labeled correctly. The Trade Inspection Authority is checking, all over Poland, whether commercial chains correctly inform about the country of origin of such products as, inter alia, tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, peppers or apples.

“Practices that mislead consumers are absolutely unacceptable. I will not tolerate them as the President of UOKiK. Before making their shopping decisions, Polish families should be provided with comprehensive and reliable information about the products they intend to purchase. If they try to make sure that only Polish fruit and vegetables make it onto their tables, they should not have any doubts that the produce they buy originate from Poland,” says Tomasz Chróstny, President of UOKiK.

“Over the coming months, we will be publishing, on a regular basis, information identifying those chains in which the most serious irregularities related to country of origin labeling have been discovered. We expect large, professional economic operators to display particular diligence while caring for consumers. This includes providing correct information about the products they offer as well,” adds Tomasz Chróstny, President of UOKiK.

Irregularities have been identified at 37 locations (37.8 percent). The following chains were affected the most: Delikatesy Centrum (36.1 per cent of lots inspected did not have any displayed misleading information about their country of origin), Intermarche (15.6 percent), Stokrotka (13.9 percent), Kaufland (10.7 percent), Lidl (8.9 percent), Carrefour (8.7 percent), Dino (8.3 percent) and Biedronka (8 percent). The inspectors did not find any irregularities at stores operated by Aldi, Auchan and E.Leclerc.

Between 12 and 27 February 2020, the Trade Inspection Authority controlled 98 stores belonging to 16 different supermarket chains. The inspectors verified the labeling of 1,256 lots of fruit and vegetables. Those products were controlled that are associated with the highest risk of their country of origin being indicated mistakenly, i.e. tomatoes, cucumbers, cabbage, onions, garlic, carrots and apples. 161 product lots (12.8 percent) were questioned, with 125 lots (10 percent) missing any information about the country or origin or misleadingly identifying Poland as the country of origin.

For example:

• white onions offered by Intermarche were marked as Polish, while they originated from Italy,
• apples offered by Delikatesy Centrum were labeled as imported from the Netherlands, although they were actually grown in Poland,
• Moroccan date tomatoes sold by Stokrotka had three countries of origin listed on their labels: Morocco, Spain, Poland - without the proper one identified correctly,
• Biedronka failed to provide any information about the country of origin of celery, and did not display the right flag next the potatoes it offered.

The Trade Inspection Authority will continue to control fruit and vegetable labels at different shops.

Additional information for the media:

UOKiK Press Office
Pl. Powstańców Warszawy 1, 00-950 Warszawa, Poland
Phone +48 695 902 088, +48 22 55 60 246
E-mail: biuroprasowe@uokik.gov.pl
Twitter: @UOKiKgovPL