ZAGREB, January 29, 2019 - Following media reports that a Polish slaughter house was processing meat from sick cows, Croatia's chief veterinary inspector, Gordan Jerbić, said on Tuesday that Croatia did not import meat of sick cows from Poland and that there was no need for local consumers to fear.
"An inspection of the documents attached to each animal shipment imported into Croatia established that Croatia did not import meat from that abattoir," Jerbić told reporters after media outlets released secretly taken footage of exceptionally sick cows that were being smuggled into the Polish abattoir and processed without hardly any veterinary inspection at all.
Jerbić added that more than 14,000 official inspections were conducted last year of live animals and of animal products, with more than 4,500 samples of imported fresh meat being taken.
About 700 objections were lodged regarding breaches related to the hygiene of products of animal origin and equipment in meat processing plants and 17 criminal charges were filed at relevant courts.
Jerbić underscored that inspections are conducted "from farm to the table," each stage being checked from slaughter, packaging and transport to the end user.
Asked about meat from the Polish abattoir, Jerbić said that an investigation was still underway. "We sent a query to the relevant Polish authority but haven't received a reply as to where that meat ended up. However, following an inspection of the documentation, there is no need to fear that that meat ended up in Croatia," Jerbić underscored.
He confirmed that Croatia does import a certain quantity of meat from Poland, mostly fresh beef.
More news on the Croatian agriculture can be found in the Business section.
