Posted: February 13th, 2012 - 8:28am
Source: YLE

Dangerous foodstuffs were imported into Finland from China and the United States, among other countries, last year. The number of reports of dangerous foods was nevertheless down on previous years.
Last year most problems were found in fruit and vegetables, according to the Finnish Food Safety Authority Evira.
The authority is to conduct more research into food from China and the United States, because there have been indications of problems in some products from those countries. The main problems are down to pesticide residues that are found in products from producers that export irregularly and in small batches.
In addition to China and the US, problems have also been discovered within the EU. Italian olives were the source of botulism that killed one person in Helsinki, for instance.
Despite the problems, imported food is safer than it has been, according to the number of reports Finnish authorities sent to the EU on suspect food products. Last year there were 80 such reports, a third of the number sent in 2009.