Moscow - Russian food safety authorities confiscated and destroyed nearly 300 kilogrammes of contaminated Beluga caviar valued at around 2 million dollars, reports said Tuesday. The delicacy, which had been mixed unhygienically with cheaper varieties of caviar, was being sold in Moscow supermarkets, the Interfax news agency quoted the country's Interior Ministry as saying.
Investigations into the caviar found bacteria levels dangerous for human consumption, the ministry said, adding that the businessmen behind the product would be prosecuted.
The United Nations had recently allowed the limited trade of Beluga roe for 2007. According to the new regulations, only 3.7 tonnes of wild sturgeon, which produces the most expensive Beluga caviar, is to be caught from the Caspian Sea.
Last year, there was no quota allowed, a measure welcomed by environmentalists, who claimed that Russian fishermen in particular were guilty of illegal fishing of the species.
