Food hygiene in Poland

Don't get me wrong I love my new home here in Poland but I feel that in some places food hygiene could be a bit/lot better. I'm not talking about restaurants, but in some shops/cake shops. I could give many examples but I'll only give a couple. There is cake/meat shop in Galeria Baltycka in Gdansk which sells really good sandwiches with great fillings, only problem is you have to be lucky to not be given the ones which sit right under the hot lamp making the cheese and ham sweat/change colour. Probably just being a bit picky on this one, in smaller corner shop types, dried out meats in the fridge and dairy cakes left out of fridge all day. Maybe this doesn't bother people and maybe it's because I'm fussy but just wanted to ask the question.

P.S I'm not having a go, I love the cakes here especially from Sowa (They are refrigerated mind) and cold meats in Poland are second to none.

Dzięks

And?? what we should do about that?? write a letter or what?? do you want me to go there and tell them you have some objections?? Ask them If they have a book of requests and complains ??

Nobody's asking YOU to do anything. I was asking the question on food hygiene standards in Poland not whether you would write a letter of complaint for me. Thought that was quite clear, maybe not......

The worst think is putting uncovered food on or next to the counter in shops, just at the right height for bronchial old people to cough over.

Food hygene standards in Poland were on higher level before we joined EU. This is EU food hygene standards, didn't you know???

I highly doubt that. as johnny said


I've never seen this in UK. Just sitting there in front of people coughing/sneezing on the food.

I have the same issues- I just don't order food that has been sitting out. But my Polish friends leave their food out all night- salads with mayo, yuck- meats and cheeses too- I have issues with hygiene and food safety anyway.

Thanks for the laugh.

Been here seven years now.... not been poisened by anything yet....?

Happened several times in the UK....!

I have never been poisoned by eating any meal served by public outlets in Poland including cakes and icecream - maybe I am just this lucky - not that I was poisoned eating out anywhere else though

It is not about hygiene.

Hygiene problem is when assistants hand out food with their bare hands which earlier handled money. I must say it it was standard in communist times but today happens more and more rarely.

Whats hygiene ?

During some periods of PRL a mandatory appetizer was added to every beer - usually an old desiccated or mouldy cheese with parsley. This is how the State cared for the sobriety of the nation.

A typical draft beer, sold at bars and restaurants of railway stations, where people spent endless hours waiting for connecting trains - "piwo dworcowe" - had more or less the same slightly sour taste everywhere, occasionally locally mixed with pugnacious soapy flavour or a relish of the bottom of the sauerkraut barrel. In the food cabinet at the bar other standard appetizers were on display:

- Śledzik po japońsku, a herring a'la Japanese. It was a half of the boiled egg, wrapped by a piece of herring, served on a bed of vegetable salad, drenched in mayonnaise. When fresh, it was even quite tasty, but since those cabinets were not refrigerated the look of this delicacy was not very inviting after few hours on display.

- Tatar "inwalida", beef tartare with one raw yolk and other various stuff on top. The word "invalid" refers to the fact that the poor Tatar had only one egg left - (one would say "one nut" in English, but then it would not be funny). The same presentation issue.

- Nóżki w galarecie, a calf-foot or pork-foot jelly. Prepared often on site. A preferred culinary component of a set known as "lorneta w meduzie" - binoculars in medusa (jellyfish). The role of binoculars was played by the two 100 gram glasses of vodka, which a person will consume, together with foot jelly, for his supper.

Sounds like the old Spanish law that gave rise to Tapas. I think the stuff I've had in Spain was probably better than the joys of the waiting room you describe.

Yet I love modern Tapas: the presentation, the size. Mostly because I hate wasting food.

Things change with time. Fishmongers used to wrap fish in newspapers. There is famous Kensington Market in downtown Toronto, where you can buy all sort of fresh food. I have not been there for ages, but my first impression of the hygiene was not that positive: the view and the smell was overpowering. Now I hear that this is a tourist attraction.


I saw once a cook in Toronto exiting the washroom with her latex gloves still on. Makes you think..

I'd rather not. As a student I worked in a restaurant. Since then I have always been extremely courteous to waiters.

At a baseball stadium in NYC, I saw a fast food vendor handling money and distributing hot dogs with the same bare hands. And nobody complained. Incredible.

some say modern rise in allergies stems in part from over-the-top hygiene

This is a classic when it comes to hygiene.

youtube.com/watch?v=pTyxo5j4Hug

Discolored meat doesn't sound very yummy. Sounds like quite a few health code violations there.

And this is all about hygiene according to you . Are you claiming they should be washed or dry cleaned or something ?

This is public forum you can write what you want. You asked what standards we have, I gave you an honest answer. What's your problem?? I told you we have EU standards, and you doubt that...well what can I say in this case??? You can make some research, go to "sanepid" and ask :) But if you did and still will have some doubts, then go to Spain and visit their best restaurants.

And to those who laugh, yes we had higher standarst before EU, for example our standards for clean water.

Funny. No, I'm claiming that something that should normally be kept in a fridge not be sitting under a hot lamp for hours................Jeez I thought this was a no brainer????

and you think we have standards for that?? stuknij się w głowę.

Clearly not

standards to keep food for hours in hot place, just a little bit of positive thinking and less ignorance would help.

Whats there to be positive about ??? Where does ignorance come into it?

You took example of some restaurant and talk about standards in Poland. Do you know what standards mean?? Food hygiene standards are regulated by law, not by restaurants.

never had a problem with food hygiene in poland, same as most places, you will get good and bad. only one piece of advice i would stand by. check out the toilets first. went to a bar in peru once for a beer, looked at food, thought it looked pretty good, but decided to go to the loo first before ordering. toilet was filthy, half inch deep in sewage, and it was right next to the kitchen......

I think you'll find you're wrong AGAIN. I never once gave an example of ANY restaurants. I gave 2 examples, 1 of a cake/meat shop and one of local corner shops. Anything else you wanna have corrected?