Poland

  • Beware the botulism at Euro 2012

    Posted: March 21st, 2012 - 3:46am by Doug Powell

    Headed to Poland to watch some footy in June? The World Health Organisation has some advice: beware the botulism.

    The 2012 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 2012, will be hosted by Poland and Ukraine between June 8 and July, 1 2012.

    WHO warns that Poland has a particularly high incidence of botulism, which can be foodborne if the dish is improperly canned or preserved.

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    Food Safety Culture  |  0 Comments
    Botulism, euro 2012, food safety, Poland, who
  • Poland pulls food suspected of having road salt

    Posted: March 10th, 2012 - 6:50am by Doug Powell

    What’s not to like about the Polskie Okorki?

    And what about those cabbage rolls?

    But with lorry salt?

    Polish health authorities have ordered the withdrawal from the market of more than 230,000 kilograms (500,000 pounds) of pickles, bread and other food suspected of containing industrial salt, the latest development in a scandal raising fears about food safety.

    Revelations that industrial salt was sold to food producers has prompted authorities to open a criminal investigation and arrest five people. More than 600 tests have also been carried out on food samples. The industrial salt was intended for deicing roads in winter.

    With much of its territory devoted to agriculture, Poland produces everything from apples and beets to eggs and meat that gets sold to Germany and other neighboring countries.

    Laboratory tests so far have found that the amounts of dioxins and heavy metals in the salt are minimal and unlikely to harm human health. Nonetheless, the Chief Sanitary Inspectorate ordered the withdrawal of suspect food as a precaution, its spokesman, Jan Bondar, said Friday.

    The foods include vegetables that are preserved in salts, likes pickles and sauerkraut and beets, but also sausages and breads and other baked goods.

    Even if the salt used does not contain anything harmful, it still is not enriched with iodine, as the law requires for food, said the inspectorate, which is a state body responsible for food safety and other public health matters.

    The food producers that used the questionable salt have been told not to let the foods leave their warehouses.

    Agriculture Minister Marek Sawicki said he was worried that the scandal — which has received a lot of media coverage in Poland — is unfairly hurting the image of Poland's food.

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    Food Safety Policy  |  1 Comment
    food safety, Poland, recall, road, salt
  • Poland: 'We want to live in a country that doesn't stink'

    Posted: October 28th, 2009 - 6:07am by Doug Powell

    Poland’s soccer team may suck, but the co-host of the 2012 UEFA Euro championships wants to make sure the toilets sparkle.

    Arkadiusz Choczaj, leader of the so-called "Clean Patrol" campaign, told reporters in Warsaw,

    "Our toilets are better prepared for these championships than our football players.”

    "Clean Patrols", made up of volunteer inspectors dressed in white overalls, recently sniffed around 200 public toilets in six Polish cities slated as Euro 2012 venues or back-ups. The "Clean Patrol" project was co-sponsored by CWS-boco, a sanitary products supplier.

    Public potties were rated on accessibility, hygiene, smell and whether toilet paper, soap and hand towels were available.

    Just one toilet scored a perfect 100 points, while a three-quarters majority rated 65 points, the basic acceptable standard.

    Loos in airports, hotels, restaurants and cafes were rated the highest by both the patrols and tourists surveyed by the independent TNS OBOP pollsters. Poland's tourist-magnet southern city of Krakow received the highest ratings.

    At the bottom of the rankings were a quarter of public restrooms -- in train and bus stations, on trains and in camp grounds -- rated as danger zones by the patrols and foreign tourists alike.

    Jan Orgelbrand, head of Poland's Chief Sanitary Inspectorate said,

    "Regardless of the Euro finals, we have to improve standards because, let's face it, we want to live in a country that doesn't stink.”

    "Not every football fan or tourist will get to the stadium, but all will visit our public lavatories and their standard speaks about Poland as a nation."
     

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    Clean, Football, Grossology, Poland, Soccer, Toilet, Uefa
  • Poland: Dozens poisoned with salmonella in ice cream

    Posted: June 15th, 2009 - 1:24pm by Doug Powell

    Twenty-four people have been poisoned with salmonella in the south-eastern city of Przemysl following consumption of ice cream; three have been hospitalized.

    Adam Sidor from the Sanitary Inspectorate in Przemysl, said,

    “The shop which sold poisoned ice-cream has been closed and the staff is under observation.”

     

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    Poland, Soft-serve Ice Cream
  • Salmonella in Sweden: no "shit sample from the flock"

    Posted: December 18th, 2007 - 4:25pm by Doug Powell

    Sweden's English language newspaper, The Local, reported today that 12 people in the Gävle region have contracted salmonella poisoning after eating infected eggs imported from Poland.

    The story explains that as salmonella is common in Poland, a special certificate is needed when importing eggs to Sweden to prove that a particular batch is not infected with the bacteria.

    Food administration inspector Pontus Elvingsson said tests are generally carried that include "shit samples from the flock."

    Certificates obtained by wholesalers at Årstahallarna in Stockholm contained information that was false.

    The administration believes that those infected in the eastern town may have fallen ill after eating mayonnaise made with the Polish eggs.

    The National Food Administration (Livsmedelverket) said that eggs from the same batch have also been sold in Sollentuna, Botkyrka and Stockholm.
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    Salmonella  |  0 Comments
    Eggs, Poland, Sweden