On June 20, an article based on an independent journalistic investigation by The Bureau of Investigative Journalism (TBIJ) appears in the UK, pointing out the risks to human health associated with eating chicken meat imported from Poland.

” A major supplier of meat to British supermarkets is sourcing chicken that has been given antibiotics linked to the spread of deadly superbugs, increasing the risk of future outbreaks of life-threatening diseases.

Polish meat giant SuperDrob sources chicken from farms that use drugs classified as „critically dangerous” to human health, despite the serious risks this poses to consumers. SuperDrob sells frozen poultry products to Lidl, Asda and Iceland.

The company has been linked to a deadly salmonella outbreak in 2020. – which, TBIJ reveals, involved bacteria resistant to multiple drugs – and there were at least 15 salmonella infections linked to SuperDrob poultry in 18 consecutive months.

As of 2020. Poland accounts for more than half of the serious salmonella infections in meat from the EU. SuperDrob is one of Poland’s leading poultry producers, with more than 50% of its revenue coming from exports.

In recent years, sales of a class of antibiotics known as fluoroquinolones, which are often used to treat serious salmonella infections, have increased by more than 70% in Poland. Data show an even greater increase in sales of colistin, a drug of last resort used to treat serious infections that have not responded to other drugs. Both drugs are classified by the World Health Organization as critically important to human health.”

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