Recent quality tests on dairy products labeled as Polish, including butter and cheese, sold at a market in Ukraine have revealed alarming results. An expert assessed that four out of five of these products were identified as counterfeits, which may pose health risks to consumers, as reported by Unian agency.
Polish dairy products, including cheese, have gained popularity in Ukraine, gradually displacing domestic goods in this sector and capturing an increasing market share. Maksym Niesmianow, the director of the Ukrainian Consumers Association, initiated testing of these products sold not in stores but by vendors at markets. The results were shocking.
Expert Claims Tested Products Bear No Relation to Real Cheese
The dairy items claimed to be of Polish origin, including butter and cheese, were purchased at a market near Lisowa metro station in Kyiv and subsequently sent for laboratory analysis. They were tested for milk fat content to determine if they contained any vegetable fats. According to Niesmianow, genuine butter should not include fat substitutes.
One of the products tested was the so-called Polish butter from Mlekowita, which was found to contain 89.72% milk fat substitutes. “This is not butter. In my opinion, it’s a counterfeit. I don’t think Poles are poisoning us,” said the expert in a review published on YouTube. The quality of the alleged butter from Mleczna Dolina was even worse, with over 90% fat substitutes, and Niesmianow remarked that it doesn’t even smell like milk. Notably, both products were significantly cheaper than in stores.
Another product, Gouda cheese branded as Polish from Polmlek, was also identified as a counterfeit. “It is simply a cheese product and a counterfeit. It has nothing to do with cheese,” Niesmianow emphasized. The “Polish” brie from Mlekowita was similarly questionable. “Either the Poles are counterfeiting it, or our people are—I don’t know who. This type of cheese is sold in supermarkets without any fat substitutes,” he reported.
However, one product stood out in the Ukrainian test: “Łaciate” butter at 83% was the only item tested that contained no fat substitutes.
The expert noted that the examined products lacked Ukrainian translations on their packaging and did not indicate who the importer was for these goods in Ukraine. He also stated that the Ukrainian Consumers Association wishes for the local food supervision authority to take action. While he does not blame market vendors for selling what was provided to them, he highlighted that the ongoing war promotes illegal trade, complicating effective product oversight, ultimately harming consumers.
