Food Authority head says salmonella found in Russia could not have come from Finnish poultry
Russians say salmonella was found in Finnish chicken wings
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Jaana Husu-Kallio, Director-General of the Finnish Food Authority, says that the salmonella discovered by Russian officials in poultry cannot have originated in Finland.
The Russian authorities reported on the finding in a letter sent to Husu-Kallio on Wednesday. The news agency Itar-Tass reported on Tuesday evening that Russia had found salmonella in a lot of chicken wings delivered by the Finnish meat packing company HK Ruokatalo.
Finnish officials point out that salmonella has been almost eradicated from Finnish poultry.
An even greater surprise was that the discovery was of the Salmonella Chingola variety, which has never been detected in Finnish poultry. The only time that it was found in Finland was in 1999, in a person who had contracted it in another country.
"I dare say that the discovery cannot be of Finnish origin. It is my task now to convince my Russian colleagues of this.
Esa Mäki, CEO of HK Ruokatalo also says that he is convinced that the products of his company are not tainted with salmonella. He says that production units, slaughterhouses, and products are checked closely, and nothing suspicious has been found in any of the samples.
The Finnish Food Authority began drafting a response to the Russians on Wednesday.
"In our response we explain how rare a salmonella discovery is in Finland in general, to say nothing of this kind of very special salmonella", Husu-Kallio says.
Husu-Kallio hopes that Finnish and Russian investigators might work together to find out what is behind the discovery. She does not believe that there is any political background to the matter, even though the EU and Russia have disagreements on food issues. "I believe that this is a matter between experts of food supervision, especially when a single production facility is involved", Husu-Kallio says.
"Naturally, it comes to our minds whether or not some kind of a mixup might be possible, and that the origin of the samples may be somewhere else."
Russian officials are now conducting salmonella tests on poultry supplied by HK. Other Finnish poultry producers can continue their exports uninterrupted.
Husu-Kallio says that the Food Authority's job is to assure the Russians that no restrictions are needed.
Helsingin Sanomat
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| 24.5.2007 - TODAY |
 Food Authority head says salmonella found in Russia could not have come from Finnish poultry |
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