EC inspectors arrive in Poland to probe illegal sick cow slaughter

European Commission inspectors arrived in Poland on Monday to probe the illegal slaughter of sick cows. They are scheduled to stay in Poland until Friday, and an EC report is to be ready within a month, Anca Paduraru, an EC spokesperson, announced on Monday. Paduraru told a press conference that a group of EC inspectors had already arrived in Poland and started to evaluate the situation. She added the mission would end on Friday, Feb. 8, and that a report would be ready within a month "as it must first be sent to Poland and later back to the EC." She also said that, while in Poland, EC experts will be cooperating with representatives of the Polish authorities. The European Commission probe comes in the wake of an investigative television programme by a Polish private broadcaster which revealed the illegal slaughter. Journalists used undercover filming to expose how diseased cows were killed at a slaughterhouse in Ostrów Mazowiecka, in north-eastern Poland, without the presence of a vet to oversee the operation.