Poland’s Anwil says it’s not liable in industrial salt food scandal

07 March 2012 17:00  [Source: ICIS news]

LONDON (ICIS)--Poland-based Anwil is confident that any purchasers of its industrial and road salt that subsequently sold it for use in food products would have been automatically advised that the salt was not intended for non-industrial use, the company said on Wednesday.

Polish regulators are investigating the alleged use of industrial and road salt in foodstuffs by at least three Polish companies, in a scandal that they say may stretch back many years.

“All customers for the salt are informed it does not have food approval and can not be used for food purposes. Salt sold by us is intended only for industrial purposes and for winter road [de-icing] maintenance ... We emphasise that we can not assume responsibility for any other use of the salt by other parties,” said Anwil, the polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and fertilizer subsidiary of Poland's PKN Orlen.

The Chief Sanitary Inspectorate of Poland said it had notified the European Commission's Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF) that Polish prosecutors in Poznan, central Poland, began legal action against three unnamed companies in February.

The inspectorate is testing hundreds of samples from a range of foods including bread and other bakery products, sauerkraut, pickled onions, a variety of spices, beetroot, horseradish pickles and pickled cucumbers.

However, it said no dangerous dioxins or other harmful chemicals had yet been identified in the salt used in the foodstuffs.

By: Will Conroy
+44 20 8652 3214

For the latest chemical news, data and analysis that directly impacts your business sign up for a free trial to ICIS news - the breaking online news service for the global chemical industry.

Get the facts and analysis behind the headlines from our market leading weekly magazine: sign up to a free trial to ICIS Chemical Business.

Printer Friendly