IJHARS Inspects 42 Goose Farms and Six Slaughterhouses Ahead of St. Martin's Day

In brief

• Poland's IJHARS inspected 42 goose farms and six slaughterhouses in 2026 before the November holiday season.
• Inspectors checked how birds were housed and fed, whether declared production systems matched actual conditions, and the trade quality of the meat.
• Almost 274,000 geese were counted on the inspected farms.

Inspections across the production chain

The Inspectorate for Commercial Quality of Agri-Food Products, known as IJHARS, carried out checks on domestic goose meat production this year (Inspekcja skontrolowała Polską Gęś Owsianą. Co pokazały wyniki? – Farmer.pl) (Wielka kontrola gęsiny przed 11 listopada. Inspektorzy ujawnili wyniki – Fakt). Inspectors visited 42 farms and six slaughterhouses. The checks covered the conditions in which birds were kept, their feeding, and the commercial quality of the meat.

The campaign was timed ahead of November, when goose is traditionally in high demand in Poland, largely because of St. Martin's Day on 11 November, when goose often appears on the table.

Scale of the farm checks

On the 42 farms, inspectors counted almost 274,000 geese in total. One of the main elements of the audit was verifying whether the production system declared by producers matched the conditions in which the birds were raised and fattened.

What inspectors examined

Beyond housing and feeding, the inspection assessed the trade quality of the meat that reached processing plants. The six slaughterhouses were part of the same review, linking what happens on farms with what reaches shops and restaurants.

The results are key information for consumers buying goose in the run-up to the holidays, showing how the sector performed under official scrutiny before the seasonal peak.