Famous Hungarian salami counterfeits sold at Budapest market – PHOTOS, VIDEO

A butcher shop sold counterfeit meat products for profit in one of the most popular roofed markets of the Hungarian capital which is also often frequented by foreigners.

According to Telex, the inspectors of the Hungarian National Food Chain Safety Agency (NÉBIH) found a counterfeit “csemege szalámi” which was packaged in a way to look like the famous Hungarian Pick salami.

According to the brand’s website, “for 150 years Pick has been a significant player in the European food industry market and has been the leader of the Hungarian meat market, offering excellent quality products widely known and appreciated all over the globe. Pick Szeged Zrt. have the largest dried meat manufacturing capacity in Central-Europe and its scope of activities covers the entire meat industry verticum from slaughtering to the wholesale and retail distribution of meat and meat products”.

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The butcher shop wanted to profit from the fame and popularity of the brand and created a counterfeit meat product to reap a much larger profit than they could otherwise.

Counterfeit Pick Salami — Photo: portal.nebih.gov.hu

The salamis were hanging over the meat counter of the butcher shop and, according to the report of the Hungarian National Food Chain Safety Agency (NÉBIH), the employees were the ones who noticed that the approval or authorisation numbers on the product and the packaging were different.

When asked to produce the documentation of the purchase of the product, the employees of the butcher shop were unable to show evidence of the origin of the salami, which in itself is a serious infringement of food safety.

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Additionally, since the product was labelled as “Pick Csemege szalámi”, it is also considered a counterfeiting act. On top of that, the brand no longer produces that exact product anymore, especially not in a 1075-gram packaging.

The food safety agency asks anyone who has purchased a similar product at the Great Market Hall in Budapest from the store of Duna-Baromfi Bt., to return the product and also inform the authorities about the purchase.

Pick Szeged Zrt. currently sells products labelled “téliszalámi” (wintersalami) and “csemege szalámi” (delicacy salami) within the following packagings: