Inspectors of three specialised inspections will take part in the measures launched today: Veterinary,  Trade and Agricultural and Food Quality inspections. Poland has been obliged by the EC to analyse 150 samples of products containing beef meat. According to the EC’s recommendations, the inspection will include:

• food destined for consumers or for mass caterers, placed into the market or labelled as containing beef,
• horse meat destined for consumers, in order to detect traces of phenylbutazonum.

The Agricultural and Food Quality Inspection will collect 75 samples from manufacturers. The same number will be examined by the Trade Inspection, which, as ordered by the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection, started today, within its competence,  inspections in retailers. Inspectors who check the potential contamination may collect samples from shops, wholesalers and food establishments.

Moreover, horse meat examination to detect traces of phenylbutazonum will be conducted by the Veterinary Inspection.

The inspections will take a month. Afterwards, we will learn the results enabling us to establish the scale of potential contamination of beef products with horse ingredients.  All samples collected will be tested in a laboratory to identify meat ingredients based on DNA analysis.

The coordinator of information measures and of the inspections launched is the Chief Agricultural and Food Quality Inspector.

Information for the media:
Stanisław Kowalczyk
Chief Agricultural and Food Quality Inspector
ul. Wspólna 30, 00-930 Warsaw
Tel.: +48 22 623 29 00, 22 623 29 01
E-mail: [SCODE]c2VrcmV0YXJpYXRAaWpoYXJzLmdvdi5wbA==[ECODE]
 

Małgorzata Cieloch, Spokesperson for UOKiK
Department of International Relations and Communication
Pl. Powstańców Warszawy 1, 00-950 Warsaw     
Tel.: +48 22 827 28 92, 55 60 314
Fax: +48 22 826 11 86
E-mail: [SCODE]bWFsZ29yemF0YS5jaWVsb2NoQHVva2lrLmdvdi5wbA==[ECODE]