Deputy Health Minister Katarzyna Kęcka announced that the new regulation has officially entered into force, giving authorities stronger powers to control food imports from outside the EU.
Under the new rules, Poland can impose additional restrictions on food products if there are concerns about potential risks to public health. The measures focus particularly on residues of selected active substances used in plant protection products that are considered especially dangerous and are not approved for use within the European Union.
In practice, the regulation means stricter inspections of selected imported food products and greater authority for officials to block goods that fail to meet EU safety standards. The government says the changes are intended to improve consumer safety and create fairer competition for domestic producers.
Deputy Agriculture Minister Małgorzata Gromadzka said Polish farmers already comply with strict European regulations and argued that imported food producers should be held to the same standards.
"Polish farmers are not afraid of competition, but that competition must be based on fair, common, and equal rules," Agriculture Minister Stefan Krajewski said during a press conference last week.
Officials stressed that protecting consumer health remains the government’s top priority. According to Gromadzka, Poland wants consumers to have access to healthy food produced according to European standards.
The Polish government is also seeking to block the European Union’s trade agreement with the Mercosur countries by filing a complaint with the Court of Justice of the European Union. Warsaw argues that the deal could increase imports of food from South America that do not meet European safety and production standards.
(aj)
SOURCE: IAR; agronews.pl; biznes.interia.pl