Finnish Customs (Tulli) investigated two cases of meat smuggling.
The agency reported that between 2022 and 2024, more than 10,000 kilos of meat were imported from Estonia and Latvia without sufficient documentation.
Eight suspects are involved in the cases. The preliminary investigation will now be forwarded to the Public Prosecutor’s Office in Southern Finland to assess the charges. Officials said a common motive behind food violations is financial gain.
In the first investigation, a suspect was arrested by customs in Helsinki’s West Harbor in August 2023 when he tried to bring almost 800 kilos of beef from Estonia to Finland. The meat was probably transported in a car without refrigeration and with insufficient documentation.
Finnish customs also suspect that false information about Salmonella tests was provided to the authorities and that the Salmonella certificate was forged.
Second case
In the second incident, Finnish customs suspect that more than 9,000 kilos of poultry meat was brought to Finland with insufficient or false documents and without refrigeration between November 2022 and February 2024. The case came to light when the Helsinki Food Safety Unit submitted an investigation request to Customs.
The European Commission has granted Finland special guarantees regarding Salmonella. Due to these measures, beef, pork and poultry meat sent to Finland for commercial purposes must be free of Salmonella before being shipped. Shipments must be accompanied by a commercial document and a laboratory test certificate. The samples must have been taken at the dispatch facility.
The researcher in charge, Hanna Koskenranta, said the same problems are discovered again and again during inspections.
“There are often various errors or shortcomings in the documents; Falsified documents may also be submitted and Salmonella certificates may be missing. While goods can generally circulate freely within the EU, different import requirements may apply to food products depending on the country,” she said.
“In both cases we investigated, the operators were companies that had registered their activities as required for the commercial import of food under the Finnish Food Act. In other words: the companies themselves are responsible for the safety of their products and compliance with legislation.”
Counterfeit chocolate
In another incident, police in Finland opened a preliminary investigation into a confectionery company that filed a criminal complaint against another operator.
A company is suspected of illegally using the brand name Santa’s Break in the production and marketing of confectionery and of having misleading information about the product chocolate bars.
Officials believe counterfeit chocolate bars do not carry the “may contain egg” allergen warning. This means that these products may pose a health risk to people who are allergic to eggs.
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