After 45 years of planned economy a political and economic transition process started in Poland in 1989/90. Poland decided as the first among the Central and Eastern European Countries to launch a radical reform towards macroeconomic stabilisation and structural changes. The restructuring process determines to a great extent the processing industry. This paper analyses the transformation of the Polish food industry with main emphasis on privatisation and the internal and external structural changes of enterprises. It describes the principal stages and effects of the adjustment process of the Polish food industry to market conditions.