Russia imposed a temporary ban in October on deliveries of canned fish produced in Latvia due to high levels of benzopyrene, a cancerogenic substance allegedly detected in canned sprats in oil.
The Federal Service for Supervision of Consumer Rights and Welfare Protection said the inspection of Latvian canned fish conducted in the past two to three weeks showed that the content of benzopyrene exceeded the permissible level by two to 10 times in sprats produced by six Latvian firms.
Two of the firms, which account for 30% of the Russian canned fish market, said benzopyrene, found by experts from Russia's Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Oversight, is an inevitable result of the industrial process of frying and smoking fish, and that Russia's standards for this substance are five time that in the European Union.
Moscow's major supermarket networks were ordered to stop sales of Latvian sprats. According to Russian regulations, a maximum of one milligram of benzopyrene is allowed per kilogram of food products, whereas the EU norm is five milligrams per kilogram.
The sale of canned sprats was also banned in Kaliningrad, which is currently building its own plant to produce the fish.
Restrictions imposed by Russian authorities on food imports, including United States poultry, Moldovan and Georgian wines, and Ukrainian meat, have been a source of tension in bilateral relations with those countries.
