Related articles

The Czech Agriculture and Food Inspection Authority on Monday ordered a nation-wide inspection of fresh vegetables. The decision comes after more than a hundred Spanish cucumbers possibly contaminated with a deadly mutated E. coli bacterium went on sale in several health food outlets in the country. Czech authorities are implementing the checks after vegetables with the infectious bacteria killed ten consumers in neighboring Germany.

Some 120 Spanish cucumbers possibly contaminated with the mutated E.coli bacteria have been sold on the Czech market, a spokesman for the country’s food inspection authority said on Sunday. The vegetables came from Germany on Tuesday and were distributed among retailers the authorities are now trying to identify ; the same German dealer also supplied cucumbers to Austria, Luxembourg and Hungary, the spokesman said. Another shipment that arrived in the on Thursday has not yet entered distribution.

Spanish cucumbers and other produce are believed to have caused an outbreak of the E.coli bacteria in Germany, Denmark and other countries. In Germany, ten people have died of the infection and hundreds of others fell ill.

Le Monde correspondent Fabrice Martin-Plichta has been living in Prague since before the Velvet Revolution. Indeed, the French journalist was working here at Radio Prague when those momentous changes occurred. Since 2004, Martin-Plichta has also been the head of the Czech Federation of Food Banks, an organisation which every year saves hundreds of tonnes of food from being destroyed and distributes it among the needy.

According to a fresh survey by the Slovakian consumers’ association, international food producers unload lower-quality products on post-communist states, including the Czech Republic. The association’s director said that tests reveal that products in newer EU member states are of lower quality than those on supermarket shelves in older EU member states, with the worst results found in Bulgaria. He added that companies may choose to unload lower-quality products on those markets because they expect consumers there to be more likely to accept poorer quality.

The Supreme Administrative Court has ruled that Czech schools do not have to cater to children whose parents do not want them to eat animal products. In the case of a mother suing a primary school in Břeclav, the court found that schools can offer vegetarian meals if there is interest, but that they have no obligation to use vegan products that do not contain eggs, milk or dairy products. The school, which offers its 600 pupils three choices of meals, said it did not have the capacity to include a vegan meal. The court ruled that the school’s decision to allow vegan children to provide their own meals which they would then be served at lunch was an appropriate solution that did not damage the rights of vegans.

In recent years, beers from smaller breweries have grown in popularity in the Czech Republic – a trend that is finally being reflected in Prague’s pubs, where for a long time, the big brands enjoyed a virtual monopoly. Fortunately, it is becoming easier to find microbrews on offer in the capital. One pub that pours beers from all over the Czech Republic and is a bit of a living museum is the aptly named Prague Beer Museum, located right in the center of Prague.

Paul Day was born and raised in Stafford, in the UK’s West Midlands, where he started working as a butcher, his first food industry job. After working in two Michelin-starred restaurants in London, the chef came to Prague and has recently opened a restaurant of his own, Sansho. In its first weeks of being open, the Asian fusion restaurant quickly became the one place everyone was talking about – and now, Sansho is fully booked most days – even at lunch. I met the chef at the restaurant, where he told me about the flavors that fascinate him, how

Prague’s old Town Square was packed with people last Saturday - out to enjoy the traditional Easter market on a bright sunny weekend. Many held the traditional pastry trdelník in their hands while others savoured the unhealthy but irresistible sausages grilled in the open air. But on that particular day a most unusual smell wafted on the air – the smell of the sea. Over a thousand oysters fresh from the seacoast of Bretagne were delivered to Old Town Square shortly after midday for the 10th annual Oyster Opening Competition and chefs from some of

In this week’s Business News: the Czech Republic’s industrial output outpaces the EU average; Czech car manufacturer Škoda achieves a historic sales record; one in three German investors would no longer choose the Czech Republic as a place for investments today; the CEO of a troubled lottery company offers a cash reward for information on persons behind a prank; and the Czech restaurants’ association protests the discontinuation of tax incentives for meal tickets.

Prague’s Allegro restaurant defended its Michelin star it received in 2008 as the first restaurant in Eastern Europe. Another four eateries won the Bib Gourmand award for good food at reasonable prices, a spokesman for the Czech unit of Michelin said on Wednesday. This year, two restaurants in Budapest got Michelin stars, and the guide also lists more restaurants in Warsaw and Cracow.