Bratislava: When Simona Budinska, a 31-year-old public relations specialist, had trouble finding lactose-free products at her local grocery in Bratislava, Slovakia, she and her husband began driving across the border to Austria, where the stores were teeming with choices.

But it was not the variety of products on the shelves as much as what was in them that stunned the couple.  "The washing powder was just much more effective, and the ketchup contained more tomatoes than the Slovak one," Budinska said.

The countries of Eastern and Central Europe have long bridled at being treated like the poor cousins of the European Union family. It does not help that even after more than a dozen years in the bloc, wages remain lower, corruption persists and public services, like schools and hospitals, are far scruffier.

But now that sense of resentment is reaching even into the region's refrigerators and cupboards. With rising passion, prominent politicians and local news media have taken up the issue of whether Eastern Europeans are being sold inferior products.

Last month, the leaders of Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic went so far as to ask the European Commission to investigate the complaint, which has been backed up in recent years by several studies, though not exhaustive ones.

"People who are bothered about this trend tend to be young, middle class and higher income," said Daniel Prokop, head of social and political research at Median, a private polling and marketing agency in Prague.

"Politicians need some enemies to mobilise support. And they like the food issue, because it can be blamed on foreigners."

Bitter Eastern Europeans insist they are part of the EU, a common market, and they believe that means that food quality should remain constant throughout all 28 nations.

While rumours that inferior food is shipped to the East have swirled for years, only in 2011 did the Slovak Association of Consumers conduct a comparison of a basket of products purchased in Austria with the same products bought in Slovakia.

In all but one case, the products in the East were inferior, the group concluded.

Thus far, the only studies conducted have been between Germany and the Czech Republic, and Slovakia and Austria, involving a small sampling. But officials from the region now want all EU countries to undergo testing, to determine how widespread the issue is.

New York Times