Scandalous hygiene practice and violation of worker’s rights at major Polish delicatessen aired on TV in Poland

Warsaw, Poland, 2 February 2010 - Fish not refrigerated, stale cheese shredded for resale, sausages washed to look “fresh” and a measly 300 PLN fine from Poland’s sanitary and epidemiological control center.

This went to air on Polish television last week despite legal process by the Lublin branch of the Alma Market delicatessen chain.

Fish is still being sold after it expired, the dates are changed, it’s kept on ice and washed so it doesn’t smell,” a male employee said. “People will buy it until it stinks.”

“Cheese, it was after it’s expiry date, clearly. I saw how girls grated it, past it’s date, often moldy,” a former employee said.

“I recently bought herring for Christmas and the fish was from a delivery from when I was still working there three weeks earlier” she said.

The reports also accuse the store of mistreating it’s staff, with 10 hour shifts being cut down to the legal 8 hours on pay sheets.

A former employee also said they’d had trouble in past over minced meat, which should be minced on request and not stored. Employees were forced to pay the fine.

“And that was all hush, hush, don’t tell anyone,” she said.

The male employee who initiated the investigation said the health inspector once came in and told the store to get disinfectant cream, which they did, but never opened.

“He who rebels doesn’t work,” he said.

These anonymous statements were made on national television camera and on hidden camera supplied to a staff member after he recorded the store procedures on his mobile phone.

When the material was presented to a hygiene inspector, he confirmed the improper handling of food and said he would send people out immediately.

The video shows unclean shelves, fish in crates on floors, fish in tarpaulin sacks, eggs not in the refrigerator section.

The television station also sent their material to Alma who refused to comment but went to court accusing journalists of a lack of integrity.

At the time the deli threatened they would demand 100 000 PLN if the television station broadcast the report. It was withheld from broadcast for about two weeks before the court dismissed the case.

A spokesperson for the Alma Market, Monika Jędrzejczyk denied the allegations and said the store felt offended by the material and would fight for damages before the court.