Food Safety Alerts

In an earlier posting, “Secrets of A Russian Housewife,” I stated that the women I know here like to make pelmeni by hand, rather than buy it at a store, like I do. Or rather, like I used to do – until I read the following article in the Moscow Times. The first shocker was learning that at least some commercial pelmeni (Russian ravioli) contains horse meat rather than beef. Then I noted that Darina pelmeni has been recalled in Sverdlovsk (the area surrounding Ekaterinburg). Tons of meat had come from animals infected with anthrax.  

By the way, for the past six months Russian authorities have halted the shipment of chicken from the United States ostensibly because chlorine has been used as a disinfectant. This vigilance in protecting Russian consumers also keeps them from getting frozen chicken that is bigger and cheaper than what is produced in Russia.

I’ll be looking for follow-up stories to the one reprinted below. I’d expect that a few people might get into trouble with these revelations. If that ever happens, I’ll share that news on this blog.


Anthrax Death Linked to Pelmeni 
03 August 2010
The Moscow Times

One man died and five others were hospitalized after contracting anthrax at a farm in the Omsk region that supplied horse meat for pelmeni sold in Moscow and other regions, Interfax reported Monday. 

All six victims fell ill after being hired to cut meat from diseased animals, said Gennady Onishchenko, head of the Federal Consumer Protection Service. Horses started dying at the farm in June, but the farm's owners hid the deaths, he said. 

Lifenews.ru said about 2 1/2 tons of horse meat with anthrax was supplied to Darina, a prominent pelmeni producer. The meat was confiscated, as were shipments of the company's pelmeni in the Moscow, Omsk, Tyumen, Sverdlovsk and Tver regions, the Novy Region news agency reported.