Here are a few serious food and bev stories that have been making the rounds in Hungary over the past few days:
- Hungary’s anti-monopoly watchdog (GVH) on Friday accused the nation’s leading eggmakers of operating a cartel. The GVH said the Magyar egg business was riddled with abuses, including handshake deals to raise prices on consumers, restrict imports, and force producers to set aside a certain proportion of their output to exports. The GVH also ruled that a joint venture called Magyar Tojás Kft (“Hungarian Egg, Inc.”) set up by the egg association acted as an “umbrella” for the cartel, and hit the two groups with fines totaling Ft 146.6 million.
- Hungary’s “national team” of chefs and confectioners won the silver prize at the “World Championship of Cooks” recently held in Luxemburg. The team won second place in the “cold dishes” contest and bronze in the hot dishes contest, which meant an overall second. The team’s “coach,” chef László Ruprecht of the Port Hotel Marina in Balatonkenese called its showing a great achievement for a young, recently-formed team with no previous experience in international contests.
- Dutch dairy giant Friesland has announced plans to shut factories in Slovakia and Hungary, resulting in a net migration of jobs to the company’s operation in Debrecen.
- Three departments of the Törökbálint Cora were temporarily shut down due to various health regulation violations, and the local outpost of the French hypermarket chain faces fines of several million forint. The Pest County Animal Health and Food Control Office visited the store on November 29 and found 78 violations of hygiene regulations, including use of knives that were not sterilized, mould on the walls, and the presence of rodents.
- International food conglomerate Sara Lee said it is expanding its tea-making operations in Hungary, investing roughly €3 million to increase production of specialty teas, which are apparently all the rage here. The company is apparently very excited about the prospects for its unique “pyramid” filter bag.
- Despite an increasing desire on the part of Hungarians to slim down, the country’s confectionary market continues to expand at 2%-3% per year, and is now worth Ft 135 billion. If you’re curious, that translates into almost a half-billion euros, and 70,000 tones.
- A Debrecen-based businessman has secured the “master” franchise rights for Hungary from Spanish fast-food chain Sr Patata (“Mr. Potato”), which is – surprise! – all about potatoes. The Hungarian head potato says the first local restaurant will open in the next few months at an unidentified shopping mall somewhere in the country, and that upwards of ten locations will appear over the coming years to join the battle against the invading Czech robo-sandwiches.
