A new wave of anti-Ukrainian disinformation has emerged in Poland. In particular, posts circulating on Facebook claim that all Ukrainian food is supposedly “contaminated” and should therefore be avoided. The authors of these messages also call for a boycott of Ukrainian products. Behind these posts lies a persistent narrative that goods from Ukraine are allegedly “unsafe”.

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However, as explained by the Center for Countering Disinformation and experts from the fact-checking platform Demagog, this is a fake. The first two or three digits of a barcode identify the country or economic region in which the manufacturer is registered. Therefore, the number does not indicate the product’s place of origin. The 482 barcode prefix simply means that the product is registered in Ukraine and does not in itself signify any “danger” or “contamination”. Under Poland’s legislation on the commercial quality of agricultural and food products, imported goods are subject to sanitary inspections and must meet specific requirements.

Analysts also point out that such fakes are often based on isolated incidents in which particular batches of food products (not necessarily from Ukraine) failed quality inspections. Propagandists then generalize these cases to create the false impression that all Ukrainian products are harmful.

The disinformation campaign in Polish social media surrounding the “482 code” is part of a broader anti-Ukrainian effort aimed at undermining trust between Ukrainians and Poles and influencing political decisions by the Polish authorities regarding support for Ukraine.