During the inspection of this assortment, inspectors took into account the general regulations on the commercial quality of food and verified the goods inspected in terms of declarations. Priority products were: coffees, teas, and fruit and herbal teas sold loose. Goods sold in manufacturer's packaging, available in stores during the inspection, were also inspected.
Snail shells and bird feathers in coffees and teas
In Q1 2024, 91 stores were inspected throughout Poland, questioning the quality of goods in 54 sales points (59.3%).
In terms of physicochemical characteristics, 190 batches were inspected. Irregularities were found in 16 batches (8.4%). Laboratory tests showed the presence of:
– contaminants, e.g. snail shells, pebbles, plastic fragments, twigs, cement, bird feathers,
– dyes not approved for use in teas, e.g. E 102 tartrazine, E 104 quinoline yellow, E 123 amaranth,
– undeclared ingredient (Arabica beans were detected in coffee labelled as 100% Robusta).
Additionally, cases of product substitution were found, where, for example, instead of the declared blackberries and blueberries, chokeberries were detected in the ingredients.
In terms of labelling, 325 batches were checked, of which 167 batches (51.4%) were questioned.
The inspection was focused on products sold in bulk. It was among them that more errors were noted in terms of providing consumers with product information, i.e. out of 266 batches of products sold in bulk, irregularities were found in 55.3% . In the case of packaged products, the percentage of irregularities was lower and amounted to 33.9%.
It was found, among other things:
– Lack of mandatory information, including a list of ingredients, available directly to consumers at the point of sale.
– Unjustified calling a product a tea, when the leaves of the Camelia sinensis bush (Chinese tea) were not used for production.
– No information about the type of tea (black, green).
– The presence in the product of an ingredient not declared in the list of ingredients, e.g. dried fruit.
– The product lacks the ingredient declared in the name or list of ingredients.
– The list of ingredients does not contain any compound ingredients, e.g. sugar in candied pineapple, oil in dried apricots.
– Assortment substitution, e.g. instead of the declared blueberry, the composition included chokeberry.
– Providing a list of ingredients without maintaining descending order.
– There is no information in the product name about its form or the processing that the product has undergone, e.g. grainy, roasted, ground.
– The presence of a dye in the list of ingredients that is not approved for use in teas.
– Additionally, the goods were twice found to have been sold after the minimum durability date specified by the manufacturer.
As a result of the irregularities found, pursuant to the provisions of the Act on the commercial quality of agricultural and food products, inspectors issued 36 administrative decisions imposing fines and 9 decisions in connection with refraining from imposing a fine due to the low harmfulness of the act.
Additionally, they imposed 11 fines and issued 49 post-inspection recommendations.
