Russia’s agriculture health watchdog has seized 25 tons of listeria-tainted pig tails in the country’s Far East, Rosselkhoznadzor aide Vitaly Salenko said on Thursday.
The unique culinary delicacy was shipped to Russia from Germany.
“The entire meat lot was addressed to an individual businessman in Khabarovsk and was to be sold in one of the city’s supermarket chains,” Salenko said.
Listeria is a bacterium that causes listeriosis, a potentially lethal infection found in plants and some animal products that manifests itself as meningitis and can lead to the death of unborn children.
Listeriosis carries a 25% mortality rate in humans, in comparison with salmonella, which carries a 1% death rate.