Food Industry News: Tycoon Eats Túró Rudi Factory, Minister Mulls Milk Crisis, Egg Consumption Cracks and Convenient New Corner Shops Denounced as Intolerable Evil

Been a while since we posted on developments in the domestic food industry. Here are some recent highlights:

• Meddling Magyar Agriculture Minister József Gráf (above left in silly hat; click link to enjoy some of his previous silliess) last week said he had come up with a solution to the woes facing the entire European Union’s dairy industry. Everything would be fine, he said, if the EU adopted Hungary’s official proposal to temporarily raise export support and so-called “intervention” prices for milk by 50%, among other measures. No word if the “other measures” include forcing everyone to drink a glass of milk every morning or no TV for a week. [mno.hu]
• As if on cue, the very day Gráf announced his solution to the “dairy crisis,” signs appeared that Hungary is heading for an “egg crisis.” In advance of last Friday’s World Egg Day, Poultry Products Council secretary Péter Földi revealed, shockingly, that egg consumption in Hungary fell a full one percent between 2007 and 2008, from an annual 273 per capita to 270. Meanwhile, Attila Thury, head of the country’s main association of egg producers, said the number of egg-laying hens had fallen 15% since 2004, to 3 million. Overall, 2.5 billion eggs are produced in Hungary each year, with an additional 200 million eggs imported. And eat your eggs, too, or no TV! [metropol.hu]
• A new law which came into force on October 1 makes opening stores, including food stores, much easier and faster than before, as their proprietors don’t need to spend as many months navigating all the red tape that previously existed. Again as if on cue, Agmin Gráf and his armies of milk-faced bureaucrats said are already busy at work on new regulation to prevent this intolerable situation from taking place. [nol.hu]
• French dairy giant Danone is selling its Túró Rudi factory, located in Marcali, Somogy County, to Sole-Mizo Zrt, a company controlled by OTP Bank CEO Sándor Csányi (right, visiting one of the sausage factories he also owns). Sole-Mizo has apparently agreed to increase production and keep all employees of the plant working there for at least two years, after which we can only assume the creepy tycoon will have them ground up and processed into new bars, just like in “Soylent Green,” except with that unique túró tang. Mmmm. [napi.hu]