IJHARS: 65,870 consignments of imported food checked at the border from January to September 2026 — 99 rejected, including for elevated moisture in popcorn maize and a higher-than-declared extract content in frozen fruit
On 8 October 2026 Poland’s Agricultural and Food Quality Inspection (IJHARS) published the results of border checks of the commercial quality of food imported from non-EU countries. Rejected consignments may not be placed on the market in Poland or anywhere in the EU; according to IJHARS, 0.2% of products did not meet the requirements.
- The groups checked most often were fruit and vegetable products (12,550 consignments), fish and fish products (7,530), oilseeds (7,034), fresh fruit and vegetables (5,313), confectionery (4,798) and bakery products (4,353). For the 99 rejected consignments, 73 decisions prohibiting placing on the market and 3 decisions ordering treatment to bring the product into line with commercial quality requirements were issued.
- Rejections mainly concerned soft drinks, fruit products, coffee, eggs, vegetable products, wine, seafood, oilseeds, beer and frozen fish. The most frequent problems were labelling errors (no labelling in Polish, incorrect names for juices, incorrect labelling of the egg farming method, ingredient lists) and, in laboratory results, elevated moisture of popcorn maize kernels, coffee failing the product specification in sensory evaluation and an extract content of frozen fruit higher than declared.
- Among fresh fruit and vegetables subject to EU marketing standards, 7 consignments were rejected — tomatoes, horseradish, Chinese cabbage and lettuce — for labelling errors (including missing labelling and missing class and size information) and failure to meet minimum requirements, e.g. signs of rot and the presence of live pests and larvae.
- IJHARS checks organoleptic, physico-chemical and microbiological characteristics related to production technology, size or weight, as well as packaging, presentation and labelling; inspectors may take samples for laboratory testing of physico-chemical parameters. It does not check sanitary, veterinary or phytosanitary requirements, which are the task of other inspection services. Importers notify consignments on a form or electronically with application SWW05 via the PKWD Single Window platform.
Source: IJHARS — Kontrola artykułów rolno-spożywczych przywożonych z zagranicy (8.10.2026)