K A S H R U T . C O M_©

Suspect Polish meat sold in Prague restaurants as prime Argentinian beef

February 6, 2019 from Expats.cz
"Beef from sick cows at a shuttered Polish abattoir may have been passed off as at prime Argentinian cuts at upscale Prague restaurants."
The Czech Republic "estimated that 300 kilograms of suspect Polish beef had made its way across the border."
Czech officials found "the meat was in upscale Prague restaurants, disguised as prime Argentinian steaks."

Closed Polish abattoir sent meat to 13 EU countries

February 2, 2019 from Food Safety News

"Meat from a Polish slaughterhouse suspected of selling products from sick animals has been sent to at least 13 European countries."
"The abattoir in Kalinowo near the town of Ostrów Mazowiecka was secretly filmed slaughtering sick cows by Polish broadcaster TVN. It showed slaughter was carried out at night to avoid official veterinary supervision."
"The meat was labeled as inspected by a veterinarian before being sold to meat processing plants and companies in different countries. Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, and Sweden are currently affected."
"The French Ministry of Agriculture reported almost 800 kilograms of meat from Poland had been found in nine companies with 500 kilograms already recovered."
"Lithuanian authorities issued a warning concerning more than 80 kilograms of potentially unsafe Polish beef."
"About 250 kilograms of meat from the Polish slaughterhouse was sold to four smaller companies in different parts of Sweden."

Secret filming shows sick cows slaughtered for meat in Poland

January 27, 2019 from the The Guardian:

"Undercover footage that appears to show extremely sick cows being smuggled into a Polish slaughterhouse and sold on with little or no veterinary inspection has raised alarm about standards in one of the EU’s largest meat exporters."
"The slaughter of sick cows appears to take place at night with no veterinary officials on site, another contravention of basic standards. Workers at the slaughterhouse appear to remove evidence from the carcasses such as pressure sores and tumours that indicate that the cows have been sick and lying on their side for days on end."
"The slaughterhouse’s designated veterinarian would appear the following morning. Hw would " mark the carcasses as safe as part of his duties, and sign off on the certifications without inspecting the meat" himself.
An undercover reporter from "Superwizjer, a Polish investigative television programme" worked at the slaughterhouse for three weeks and recorded footage as to what was going on.