Illustrative stock photo (source: Sme)
The import of beef from Poland will have to follow special measures. Starting on February 22, every consignment has to undergo laboratory tests and only if it passes can it continue to the Slovak market.
This precaution will remain in force until further notice, the Agriculture Ministry announced.
“I won’t let the failures of the Polish authorities repeatedly threaten Slovak consumers,” Agriculture Minister Gabriela Matečná (SNS) said, as quoted in a press release.
As a result, the State Veterinary and Food Administration (ŠVPS) will check all Polish meat deliveries before they are distributed to the restaurants and cafeterias. Matečná wants to re-evaluate this precaution only after the European Commission’s inspectors publish the results of their inspections in Polish slaughterhouses and the Polish system of checking the quality of meat.
Salmonella found too
Stricter measures come as a response to the second scandal concerning the Polish meat that has occurred recently. The Czech authorities found salmonella bacteria in the 700-kilogram consignment of Polish beef.
About 40 kilograms of meat from this consignment was sent to Slovakia.
However, ŠVPS comptrollers stopped the delivery, so thankfully, it did not make it to the consumers, the Agriculture Ministry informed.
Inspections still underway
As for the new measures concerning the imports of Polish meat to Slovakia, food inspectors will check whether there is any bacteria or the remains of veterinary medicine in the meat or the meat was not refrozen. They will also focus on facilities from which the meat came.
If there are any suspicions of falsifying the meat, they will carry out sensory tests and quality detection of the meat.
“Every receiver of Polish beef has to report the delivery to ŠVPS’s electronic system at least 24 hours before the delivery,” said ŠVPS head, Jozef Bíreš, as quoted in the press release.
The comptrollers will take a sample, and the receivers will have to wait for the test results. Only then will the beef be offered to consumers, he explained.
Since the scandal with Polish meat from sick cows has occurred earlier this year, Slovak food inspectors have carried out more than 550 targeted controls in storehouses, retail shops, pack-houses, processing plants and on the roads.
