Average Pole eats 2 kg of food additives annually: auditors

The auditors said that industrially processed food accounts for 70 percent of the average Pole’s diet, mirroring the trend in other developed countries, Poland’s PAP news agency reported.

The report took in the period between 2016 and early 2018. The document found that inspectorates in charge of analysing food products exercised poor supervision over the use of synthetic substances in food produce in Poland, the Rzeczpospolita daily reported.

According to the auditors, the inspections did not take in the full composition of additives included in products. Neither did they verify whether the ingredients of the product were consistent with the listed components.

The report said that a consumer could ingest as many as 85 different E-numbers in just one day.

A record number of food additives was noted inside a sausage, which had 19 chemical substances.

In response to the report, Jan Bondar, spokesperson for Poland’s Chief Sanitary Inspectorate (GIS) said: “EU controls prove that [Polish regulations on using and labelling food additives] are fully complied with in Poland.”

Bondar added that the inspectorate agreed with the auditors’ recommendations to step up the efficiency of state-run controls over food produce in the country.

Polish law allows for the use of 330 different food additives, including antioxidants, flavour enhancers, colouring agents and preservatives.

(aba)

Source: PAP, Dziennik, Rzeczpospolita