Estonia, Foodstuff, Health, Legislation, Markets and Companies

Olev Kalda, deputy director general of the Veterinary and Food Board, said that samples will be taken from fish packing and processing plants, including the fish packing and processing plants of Saaremaa, under official supervision for the purpose of detecting the bacterium Listeria monocytogenes in addition to the samples collected by the operators themselves.

In the event of positive Listeria bacterium results, the samples will then go on to analysis for the detection of a specific dangerous Listeria strain. "Based on existing information, the fish packing and processing plants of Saaremaa are not connected with the bacterial strain in question," Kalda told the publication.

Surveys conducted in several countries indicate that a very aggressive mutant of the listeria bacterium is present in the plant of M. V. Wool at Harku just outside Tallinn. According to available information, 26 people across Europe have been infected, six of whom have died. In Estonia, nine people have been infected and two have died.

At the same time, M.V.Wool maintains that of the more than 600 samples taken from its products all were consistent with valid norms and its products having a negative effect on people's health is ruled out. Owner and head of the company, Mati Vetevool, denies that the dangerous bacteria is from their plant and considers as culprits the fish farms of Norway and Finland from where the bacteria reached their plant.

According to the deputy director general, the fish packing and processing plant is under the intense scrutiny of inspectors and each product batch exiting the plant is checked thoroughly.