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Poland’s Meat Industry Reaches Out to the World

As an EU member, Poland produces beef and pork exports that stand up to international regulations. Bringing food industry journalists out to explore and sample, the Meat With European Quality campaign aims to appeal to U.S. and Canadian markets.

Befsztyk is a well-known butcher shop in Poland. Opting for quality over price, the shop sells meats from Poland and around the world.
Befsztyk is a well-known butcher shop in Poland. Opting for quality over price, the shop sells meats from Poland and around the world.

On a trip sponsored by the Union of Producers and Employers of Meat Industry (UPEMI), a group of U.S. and Canadian food industry journalists visited Poland to learn about the quality of European meats.

Befsztyk is a well-known butcher shop in Poland. Opting for quality over price, the shop sells meats from Poland and around the world.Befsztyk is a well-known butcher shop in Poland. Opting for quality over price, the shop sells meats from Poland and around the world.Through a series of interviews with trade and government officials, meat processors, chefs, and restaurateurs, we learned not only of the desire to reach North American markets with high-quality beef, pork, and chicken, but also the efforts being taken to ready products for export around the world.

Poland is the No. 1 poultry producer in Europe, but it has had difficulty getting the go-ahead to export poultry to the U.S. since 2014. That hurdle was finally overcome in late October, according to Polish delegates we met with in November.

“The U.S. veterinary services recognizing the equivalence of the Polish supervision system for poultry meat production with the American system was a huge success,” says Katarzyna Piskorz, deputy chief veterinarian for Poland, also pointing out some superior aspects of Polish poultry. “In the U.S., they’re allowed to add certain disinfectants when processing. That’s not allowed in the EU. We would be ecological 100%.”

Beef and pork

But it was primarily beef and pork that the visit was focused on—touring Mokobody, a beef slaughterhouse and processing facility; Mościbrody, a meat processing plant focused largely on pork; butcher stores; and several restaurants with renowned chefs serving up some of the best the country has to offer.


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The EU exported more than $220 million of pork and close to $44 million of beef to the U.S. in 2020, according to the European Commission. The U.S. is Poland’s primary market for pork exports. However, beef from Poland is not currently exported to the U.S. That is a situation that the country aims to change with its Meat With European Quality campaign.

Katarzyna Piskorz, Poland's deputy chief veterinarian, and Ryszard Bartosik, deputy minister of agriculture and rural development, meet with U.S. and Canadian food journalists.Katarzyna Piskorz, Poland's deputy chief veterinarian, and Ryszard Bartosik, deputy minister of agriculture and rural development, meet with U.S. and Canadian food journalists.The recent win for Poland’s poultry industry in the U.S. “gives hope for the aforementioned prompt initiation of beef exports to the United States, as well as expansion in the supply of a catalogue of pork products,” Piskorz notes. “For beef, we’re hoping it won’t take so long as eight years.”

Pricing its meat lower than some other parts of Europe while also still adhering to European safety regulations puts Poland in a competitive position in other markets. “The significant potential of Polish agriculture consists of well-developed plant and animal production, the highest standards of quality and food safety, which go hand in hand with competitive prices,” says Ryszard Bartosik, deputy minister of agriculture and rural development.

Sustainabiilty

Wieslaw Różański, president of UPEMI, attributes the quality of European meats to animal genetics, wellbeing, transport, and slaughter.

Różański also brings up the efforts being made in Poland toward more sustainable practices within the meat industry. “Beginning next year, Poland will require farmers to certify their operations as zero emission,” he says.

Poland’s meat producing industry maintains sustainability guidelines through the whole production chain, Różański says. “There has been an industry move to more renewable energy sources, biodegradable packaging, lower-emission transport, and other best practices,” he notes.

It’s an expensive effort that will take a number of years, he says. For farmers, the most direct route is to use solar panels to capture the renewable energy. Some might aim for bio-gas plants, using manure as fuel. “There are basic practices that will result in farmers getting to carbon-free,” he adds.

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INTRODUCING! The Latest Trends for Food Products at PACK EXPO Southeast