Russia ready to review standard content of benzopyrene in sprats

At the recent meeting of the Latvian-Russian workgroup in Moscow Russian specialists said they were prepared to revise the standard content of benzopyrene which had caused problems with export of Latvian canned sprats, according BNS agency.

In September 2006 canned sprats from Latvia were recalled from retail outlets due to higher than standard content of benzopyrene known as carcinogen. According to the EU regulations, canned fish can contain no more than 5 mg of benzopyrene per kilo, while in Russia the limit is tougher - no more than 1 mg per kilo.