ADAPTATION PROCESS OF THE POLISH MEAT PROCESING SECTOR TO INTEGRATION WITH EU

One of the main results of systems changes that have been under way in Poland for several years is, besides other things, the Polish meat industry's possibility to compete, which makes it necessary that as many Polish meat plants as possible reach the EU hygienic, sanitary and technical standards. This process was speeded up in the last three years. It is not realistic to think that all Polish meat plants which undergo modernisation programmes will achieve EU standards on the day of Poland's accession to EU. It is possible that about 1,800 meat plants will reach such standards by the end of 2004. This can create a production base, which will effectively compete by means of prices and quality of meat and processed meat products with producers of such products in other EU countries.