RIGA, January 14, 23:13 /ITAR-TASS/. Russia’s claims to the quality of Latvian canned sprats have nothing to do with politics, Maris Balodis, the chief of the Latvian food and veterinary authority, said on Tuesday.

“Russia’s claims are not politically motivated,” he said in an interview with the Latvian television. “As of now, claims have been made to only one company and to only one batch of its products. Russia has not banned import of this company’s products.”

He pledged that his service would check the quality of products manufactured by the company SIA Randa after Russia’s veterinary and phytosanitary control service (Rosselkhoznadzor) had found benzapyrene in its canned sprats. “When Russia says that goods manufactured in this or that country do not meet its standards, regular procedures are carried out and laboratory control is toughened,” Balodis said.

On January 13, 2014, Rosselkhoznadzor imposed tougher laboratory control of canned sprats manufactured by SIA Randa over increased benzapyrene contents. The substance jeopardizes health as it tends to accumulate in the human body.

Apart from that, another Russian authority, the consumer rights protection service (Rospotrebnadzor) found the organoleptic indicators, such as fat and caloric contents, of canned fish manufactured by another Latvian company, Kolumbija Ltd, did not conform to Russia’s sanitary norms and withdrew some 24,000 Libava-brand cans manufactured by that company from sales at Perekrestok and Auchan shops in Moscow and the Moscow region.