EU – Baltic States, Foodstuff, Latvia, Legislation, Markets and Companies

"There will be legal proceedings," said Smits, adding that Latvian food producers are planning to turn to the European Commission with a request to assess the unjustified and unlawful distortion of competition. Similar countermeasures also will be made. "They attacked us, now we will respond," said Smits.

Smits was disappointed about the fact that even after Stender admitted he was wrong, announcing that the trans fat content was only 4%, no officials stood up for the Latvian food producer, writes LETA.

"This was a serious attack against the Latvian economy," said Smits, emphasizing the fact that the 1.5% level complies even with Danish standards, which Stender put forth as an example for Latvian producers to follow.

Smits admitted that he would support similar limits in Latvian regulations, however, these limits should be equally applied to the Latvian producers as well as all importers.

"Our companies, having to go through the recognition procedure of the Food and Veterinary Service (FVS), are being controlled much more than the imported production on our market shelves," said Smits. According to him, not enough attention is paid to the quality of imported products.

As reported, the Latvian Television broadcast program "Panorama" informed about Stender's research project, and his conclusion that the Selga wafers are a health hazard. They took fourth place on Stender's list of more than 1,000 different products.

NP Foods reacted to the information, allowing the media to observe its wafer production unit, and stressed that the company works with scientists in developing the recipe, and they will continue this cooperation in order to ensure safe products for consumers. NP Foods Quality Department Manager Vesma Smilga said that there are no regulations that define the maximum amount of trans fat, but that the wafers do not cause any harm to health.

Smits expressed his opinion that the professor should be expelled from the country. "The products Latvian food producers not only comply with all EU requirements, they are top quality," said Smits.