• Retail chains and large meat plants are not refusing, without a legitimate reason, to accept safe meat from healthy animals reared in areas with ASF cases.
• Two chains – Biedronka and Dino – changed their practices after the intervention of the President of UOKiK.

Meat from healthy animals from ASF zones is safe for humans and after veterinary examination may be sold in Poland without restrictions. Refusal to accept such meat may constitute unfair use of contractual advantage of big entities against swine breeders. Therefore, the President of UOKiK has checked whether such practices are used by retail chains and large meat plants. In the first stage, the activities of five entities were checked. In total, 16 retail chains and 18 large processing plants were verified in the course of the investigation.

"Retail chains or processing plants have no reason to refuse to buy veterinary tested meat that is safe for human consumption, regardless of where it comes from. I initiated an investigation, in which we conducted inspections at every stage of the supply chain, and we have good news for farmers – currently, there are no cases of unjustified refusal to accept pork from healthy animals. Two chains – Biedronka and Dino – initially were not buying such meat, however after our intervention they changed their practices and now do not make their acceptance of safe and tested meat conditional on its place of origin," says Tomasz Chróstny, the President of UOKiK.

Retail chains

In the course of the investigation, the President of UOKiK requested clarifications from 14 chains and carried out inspections at three entities. None of the entrepreneurs inspected refuses, without a valid reason, to buy safe and tested pork from the so-called red zones, i.e. areas where ASF cases have been confirmed. Initially, the retail chains Biedronka and Dino were not buying such meat, but after the intervention of the President of UOKiK, they changed their practices and now no longer make their acceptance of meat conditional on its place of origin. Two chains do not buy raw pork at all. However, the finished products bought by these chains may contain pork from various areas. The investigation has also shown that one of the chains (Selgros Cash&Carry) is currently not buying meat from the red zone due to technical and organisational limitations. At the same time, the company aims to remove these obstacles, which will allow it to accept safe pork from ASF zones.

Processing plants

The President of UOKiK requested clarifications from 12 processing plants and carried out inspections at the premises of five. At the time of giving an explanation, six entrepreneurs were not buying pork from the red zone. In each case, UOKiK employees thoroughly verified that there were legitimate reasons for this, such as channelling all production for export (meat from red zones cannot be exported) or purchasing only from affiliated entities that do not own farms in the red zone. Two entrepreneurs have pledged to introduce changes that will enable them to accept meat from ASF zones.

"Please keep in mind that swine farmers in the red zones have found themselves in a very difficult situation, which has been aggravated by the ban on exporting pork from this area. Therefore, we will continue to monitor whether large entities abuse their negotiation position to engage in practices unfair to farmers," says Tomasz Chróstny, the President of UOKiK.

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