Commendable attitude to certification of Polish products

I've noticed that many products in Poland have internationally recognised accreditation. Polish producers have been quick to work with bodies like the ISO to give assurances to their consumers that quality is a key concern.

For example, dairy products. You can buy accredited butter for 99 groszy, a full slab. That's pretty impressive. This stems from Poland's inspection culture. There are many regulatory bodies which conduct periodic inspections. Arguably more so than in many other European countries, tho I don't profess to be an expert on this one.

It's good to know that Poland has taken such an active interest in this matter.

That's fine if you're a mass producer with no particular interest in how things actually taste or what preservatives and other chemicals they put into your food. The explosion in regulation and control, much of it coming from the EU, is forcing many small, family run producers who still use traditional methods and ingredients, to the wall (or worse, underground).

What do you think they put into your 99 groszy butter when milk costs 1 zl/litre and it takes at least 20 liters to make 1kg of butter?

Many local producers can continue producing their ice-cream or whatever it is they produce. The EU's prime objective isn't to force such companies underground. I agree that, on some occasions, intervention can be unwarranted but they need to maintain certain standards and strive for harmonisation.

Not quite true. If they don't have the right paperwork, they won't be able to sell legally. I know that from next year, charcuterie-makers will have to comply with EU regulations (they've been exempt for the last couple of years to give them time to modernise). Many don't make enough to warrant the investment required, so they will either fold or go underground. The same goes for cheesemakers.


Of course it isn't! But that's the effect.


Sure. But it needs to be appropriate. You can't apply the same standards for a small family-run enterprise that you do to a national manufacturer; many family businesses have been producing food for a long time without poisoning anyone.

Yeah, I take ur points. All this paperwork makes it convoluted. I'm surprised that u mentioned cheesemakers. Aren't they offered some other incentives to produce? I'm not in touch with how subsidies are being administered now.

Yeah, a few local gherkin/pickle producers kicked up a fuss here when the EU tried to stick its snout in. They proposed more rigorous checks and uniformity of length, what pedantic drivel. This is a Polish product, made from years of tradition and expertise. There is a strong case for no EU intervention here. I could draw an analogy to subsidiarity. Sometimes, the best place for taking decisions is at the local level.

sorry - I'm a bit obsessed with this question because I as well as people I know really struggle with crazy hygiene regulations on a daily basis.

Cheesemakers, like anyone involved in adding value to agricultural products, are offered incentives, it's true, but to take advantage of them you have to want to run the thing as a business, not as a craft like many of them do at the moment. They usually have anything between 1-5 of cows and don't have the space to keep more, and making cheese gives them a bit of extra cash. With a bit of gentle help and support some would be capable of expanding but this takes time and the amount of paperwork in the meantime is overwhelming, and the places that will buy their produce and pay them a premium are simply not there.

I haven't heard about the gherkin people though. Where are they?

It was on the news. Some were trying to claim that cabbage is not hygienic. That kinda drives a stake in the heart of many Polish producers. I think they cocked a snook at many Polish gherkin producers, the ones that produce the longer ones.

They seem to be obsessed with hygiene here! The requirement to have 3 sinks in a seperate room for dealing with eggs is my favourite - one is for washing the eggs, one for rinsing them and one for washing your hands. Bonkers.

Yeah, and the eggs themselves are contaminated, LOL