A French importer has admitted to illegally importing more than 100 metric tons (MT) of Baltic salmon from Sweden, a practice banned under European law because the fish contain high levels of dioxin.
The importer, Pêcheries Nordiques, told a documentary by Swedish broadcaster SVT it imported 103 MT of the fish caught in the heavily-polluted Baltic Sea from Sweden between 2011 and 2012 without being found out.
Its director, François Agussol, said in the documentary the fish was then sold to large supermarkets such as Carrefour. SVT said another large supermarket chain, Intermarché, also purchased the fish.
After the documentary aired, Agussol told news agency AFP: “Nobody told us this was illegal,” adding that it acted in good faith, and that tests on the fish did not pick out the dioxin.
Pêcheries Nordiques, based in Echinghen, imports fish from Scandinavia and sells them to supermarkets, retailers and food companies.
Last month, Swedish authorities announced a fisheries exporter in the southern port of Karlskrona illegally exported 105 MT of Baltic salmon to France. It did not identify the companies involved nor specify when the export happened.
The Swedish documentary said the fish was also exported in smaller quantities to other EU countries such as Denmark, Germany and Great Britain.
