RIGA - Latvian officials said last week that the Danish Food and Veterinary Administration has not yet inspected the quality of meat brought in from the Baltic states, so all allegations that Baltic meat contain hazardous bacteria are unofficial and dubious.
Maris Balodis, an official from the Latvian Food and Veterinary Service, said that the Danish food administration had promised to detail why Denmark's food inspection center warned Danish consumers against purchasing meat imported from the Baltic states in order to avoid infectious diseases.
However, the center later softened is stance and said it had not issued a warning but just suggested Danes be more cautious about what imported meat they buy.
Regardless, Latvia's food producer and processor association said that, most likely, there is no Latvian meat imported in Denmark. "We are not exporting lots of meat in any case," said association chair Janis Balins.
He said that Denmark has one of the highest requirements in the European Union as far as quality of food imports. "I don't understand who is importing meat in Denmark because they have very high exports themselves," said Balins, adding that low quality meat might have possibly been imported from Greece, where, as an old member state, the quality requirements might not be as high.
