STOCKHOLM, Sweden, June 13 (UPI) -- Meat canned in 1993 and sold in 2009 by the Swedish Board of Agriculture was relabeled and sold to consumers, environmental inspectors say.
M&T Co. has promised to recall the meat from 20 stores in Stockholm and another three in Gothenburg, The Local.se reported. The company said it tested the meat and found no signs of bacteria that would cause food poisoning.
The Environmental Administration made a surprise visit to the company after a purchaser who had seen a report in Svenska Dagbladet about outdated Swedish meat being sold in Poland reported a can of suspicious meat. They found labels being changed to give a sell-by date of 2013.
"We found large numbers of cans that were being relabeled on the premises," an inspector, Camilla Blom, told the newspaper.
The government acquired the canned meat for emergency purposes and began trying to sell it in 2000. In 2009, a wholesaler bought 1,500 tons of corned beef and minced meat.
Polish scientists said after outdated meat was reported being sold in restaurants there that canned meat should be consumed within 10 years of processing. Meat that is almost 20 years old carries a risk of food poisoning and is likely to have lost any nutritive value.
