Äkta Halal Mat Sverige accused of by-passing Salmonella rules
The meat was sold to stores outside big food chains in several municipalities since August 1.
Meat and eggs coming into the country must have a certificate to show they do not contain Salmonella. Meat treated by injection of broth or marinade counts as meat preparation and is not covered by the certification rules.
The Municipality of Norrköping said it suspected the firm has designated their food to avoid the requirement for Salmonella certification.
There has also been an issue in ensuring the meat comes from approved establishments meaning it was not possible to know if it meets hygiene requirements or if the right tests were done.
Khalid Boudjema, from Äkta Halal Mat Sverige, said the company has not tried to cheat.
He told SVT Nyheter Öst there was a mislabelling from its supplier in Romania.
Control of imported meat
Aron Lindén, a state inspector at the National Food Agency, (Livsmedelsverket) said Sweden and Finland have a ‘close to none’ presence of Salmonella in indigenous farm animals, slaughterhouses and abattoirs.
“The food business operator that wants to sell meat in Sweden is responsible to ensure the right analysis is carried out in the country of origin of the meat. It is applicable on fresh and grounded meat of beef, pig or poultry,” he told us.
“If a food business operator wants to sell meat in Sweden or Finland from another EU-member state or from a country outside the EU, the meat must be controlled and analysis for Salmonella must be carried out.”
The issue was discovered by an inspector during a regular inspection of a food business operator in the municipality of Södertälje, south of Stockholm.
Municipalities with stores which received meat are Norrköping, Örebro, Västerås, Södertälje, Stockholm, Linköping, Köping, Katrineholm, Karlstad, Karlskoga, Gävle, Borås, Borlänge, Avesta and Jönköping.
Salmonella should not be detected in the meat, if it is detected it could not be sold in Sweden, according to legislation EC 1688/2005.
Every shipment or distribution of meat must have a completed trade document and a Salmonella certificate linking to the meat in the trade document.
Ongoing investigation
Lindén said control on Salmonella was a big issue in the country and it doesn’t occur often.
"The first issue is they haven’t done the Salmonella analysis before putting it in the market in Sweden. The municipality did the sampling on the meat and discovered it was not meat preparation…the information on the pack said it was. The analysis showed it was fresh meat.
“It has not been tested for Salmonella that is the food vendor’s responsibility. It is still registered as a food vendor and is still open.”
The food business operator Äkta Halal Mat said the meat comes from approved establishments in Romania, but it is their responsibility to show that it is true, said Lindén.
“We can't yet say if there is a mislabelling from the supplier in Romania or not, we have contacted the competent authorities in Romania regarding the labelling issue,” he said.
“But the company Äkta Halal Mat is responsible to take action before they put the meat on the Swedish market if they see that the labelling is wrong. So they can't only blame the company in Romania.
“The next step is the municipality has control; see meat from Romania is properly removed from the market and destroyed. Have the company show the municipality that the plant in Romania exists and is an approved establishment for doing this sort of meat.
“At the NFA we take this seriously and have tight control of Salmonella analysis. The municipalities are also doing a great job. Every competent authority in Sweden should take this issue seriously.”
