Meat smuggling cases probed in Finland

Finnish Customs (Tulli) has investigated two meat smuggling cases.

The agency reported that from 2022 to 2024, more than 10,000 kilograms of meat were imported from Estonia and Latvia without sufficient documentation.

Eight suspects are involved in the cases. Preliminary investigation work will now be forwarded to the Prosecution District of Southern Finland to consider charges. Officials said a common motive behind food offenses is financial gain.

In the first investigation, a suspect was stopped by Customs at West Harbour in Helsinki in August 2023 when attempting to bring almost 800 kilograms of beef from Estonia into Finland. The meat is thought to have been transported in a car without refrigeration and with insufficient documentation.

Finnish Customs also suspect that false information on Salmonella testing was submitted to authorities, and that the Salmonella certificate was forged.

Second case

In the second incident, Finnish Customs suspects that more than 9,000 kilograms of poultry meat were brought into Finland with insufficient or false documents and without refrigeration from November 2022 to February 2024. The case was uncovered when the Helsinki food safety unit submitted an investigation request to Customs. 

The European Commission has granted Finland special guarantees concerning Salmonella. Because of these measures, beef, pork, and poultry meat dispatched to Finland for commercial purposes must be free of Salmonella before being sent. Consignments need to be accompanied by a commercial document and laboratory test certificate. Samples must have been taken in the dispatching establishment.

The investigator in charge, Hanna Koskenranta, said the same problems keep being detected in inspections.

“There are often various errors or shortcomings in the documents; forged documents may also be presented, and Salmonella certificates may be lacking. Even though, as a rule, goods can move freely within the EU, various import requirements may apply to foods depending on the country,” she said.

“In both cases we investigated, the operators were businesses that had registered their operations as required for commercial import of foods under the Finnish Food Act. In other words, the businesses themselves are responsible for the safety of their products and compliance with the legislation.”

Counterfeit chocolate

In another incident, police in Finland opened a preliminary investigation into a confectionery firm filing a criminal complaint against another operator.

A company is suspected of illegally using Santa’s Break’s brand name in the production and marketing of confectionery and of having misleading information about the product of chocolate bars.

Officials believe counterfeit chocolate bars lack the allergen warning “may contain egg.” This means these products may pose a health risk to people who are allergic to eggs.

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Source: https://www.foodsafetynews.com/2024/12/meat-smuggling-cases-probed-in-finland/