Tesco has launched a dedicated home shopping website for Poles to meet the surging demand for Polish delicacies in Britain.

The move follows a recent near-doubling of Tesco's Polish food range to 250 products and its extension to 500 stores. "The huge demand for Polish food and drink in Britain has overwhelmed us to the extent that we have exceeded our original expectation by tenfold," said Kaska Teofilak, Tesco's Polish food buyer.

"Rocketing demand means Polish has become the fastest-growing ethnic food range we have ever launched, including our Indian and Chinese cuisines, so the launch of a dedicated website for Poles is a logical step forward."

The website, an extension of tesco.com, will enable the 1.2 million Poles now living in the UK to shop online or find their nearest stores stocking Polish fare. It is available in both Polish and English to simplify ordering.

Tesco launched its Polish food range in just 10 stores in September 2006, but following unexpectedly strong growth now sells Polish food in more UK stores than in Poland, where it has 245 stores.

It sources its range directly from suppliers in Poland to meet demand from homesick Poles for food such as pulpety - a type of meatball, and delicje - biscuits with chocolate and jam.

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