Estonia torments ethnic Russians with rotten food

[kosse]

Another scandal connected with the position of the Russian-speaking population is gathering pace in Estonia (a former republic of the Soviet Union). It turned out that the humanitarian aid, which elderly people of Russian origin receive in the Baltic country, consists of expired food stuffs from Finland. Authorities presumably ship the expired food to the areas where the Russian-speaking population is predominant, the Rossiiskaya Gazeta reports.
http://english.pravda.ru/img/0.gif http://english.pravda.ru/img/0.gif http://english.pravda.ru/img/0.gif
Finnish food chain stores S-Kauppa and K-Kauppa sacrificed tons of expired food to humanitarian organizations. The latter delivered bad food to Estonia for social needs.

A spokesman for a Finnish humanitarian organization said that the stores were selling expired food stuffs outside Finland in an effort not to ruin their reputation.

The chairman of the Union of Ethnic Russians in Estonia, Sergei Sergeev, set out a concern about the state of health of many Russians residing in the former Soviet republic. It is an open secret that expired food stuffs may trigger the development of dangerous diseases in the future.

“Such incidents are out of question in the European Union. They should be punished for such manipulations. This situation should become a lesson for the Estonian authorities to learn. They must take the activities of foreign humanitarian organizations under control and watch the distribution of food carefully,” Sergeev said.

The official said that the humanitarian activity in Estonia was organized on a very poor level.

“The delivery of food to the poor looks very humiliating and differs little from the delivery of food somewhere in Iraq , for example. Poor pensioners have to stand in long lines and even fight for a piece of sausage, which went off long ago, as it turns out,” the official said.

Official spokespeople for the areas of Estonia where the Russian population lives vaguely stated that they had never seen any food stuffs delivered from humanitarian organizations of Finland.

In Estonia, most Russians live in Tallinn and the major northeastern cities of Narva and Kohtla-Järve. The rural areas are populated almost entirely by ethnic Estonians, except for some areas in eastern Estonia near Lake Peipus which have a long history of settlement by Russians, including the Old Believers' communities.

http://www.hs.fi/keskustelu/thread.jspa?threadID=131556&messageID=2260985&#2260985

FinnSS and ESStonians poisoning Russian poor people. Gotta love how a sign of good will is turned around to be used as a weapon in Russia. :roll:

All the food given was close to or at it's "best before" date. That's different from "use by". "Best before" is usually given to dried, tinned or frozen food that doesn't go bad like meat and is still safe to eat but doesn't necessarily taste best etc after the date expires.

I guess we learnt something new today: never help anyone else than the people residing in your own country. Goddamn..

[Rynnäkkökivääri]

All I see is spokespeople responding...something tells me that the hungry people don't give a **** that the food may have been a day old.

[pacifist]

If they're not meat or milk based food then i don't see the problem.

You can still eat macaroni after it's best before date.

[kosse]

If they're not meat or milk based food then i don't see the problem.

You can still eat macaroni after it's best before date.

According to HS and Aamulehti it was "best before" stuff i.e. not meat or milk based. And of course Russians fail to mention that nobody has gotten sick so far..

[intelligenzija]

FinnSS and ESStonians poisoning Russian poor people. Gotta love how a sign of good will is turned around to be used as a weapon in Russia. :roll:

All the food given was close to or at it's "best before" date. That's different from "use by". "Best before" is usually given to dried, tinned or frozen food that doesn't go bad like meat and is still safe to eat but doesn't necessarily taste best etc after the date expires.

I guess we learnt something new today: never help anyone else than the people residing in your own country. Goddamn..

I don't know about your habits but I usually throw all the expired things from the fridge. S- and K-Market have to throw them away too. It is basically considered as garbage. They are not allowed to sell it anymore.
But for poor people it is still good enough?
Of course I don't like to see food to be wasted when it is still good. But the regulations should be applied to everyone. I don't know about "best before" dates. Either it is expired or not. If it is expired, the company cannot guarantee your health anymore :)

[Rynnäkkökivääri]

Best before dates don't mean the product expires on that date, rather by then it's not as tasty or nutritious or something after the date. For example, hours old fries are still edible, however they are pretty saggy and are not as desirable as new fries are.

[kosse]

I don't know about your habits but I usually throw all the expired things from the fridge. S- and K-Market have to throw them away too. It is basically considered as garbage. They are not allowed to sell it anymore.
But for poor people it is still good enough?
Of course I don't like to see food to be wasted when it is still good. But the regulations should be applied to everyone. I don't know about "best before" dates. Either it is expired or not. If it is expired, the company cannot guarantee your health anymore :)




Best before


'Best before' dates appear on a wide range of frozen, dried, tinned and other foods.

The 'best before' dates are more about quality than safety, except for eggs. So when the date runs out it doesn't mean that the food will be harmful, but it might begin to lose its flavour and texture.

About a third of the food we buy ends up being thrown away and most of this could have been eaten. So think carefully before throwing away food that is past its 'best before' date.

http://www.eatwell.gov.uk/foodlabels/labellingterms/bestbefore/

Bah, it's still perfectly edible. You don't seem to grasp the difference between "best before" and "use by".

What comes to throwing away..they don't have to but they often do because they don't want to give out free food in their market areas because it would hurt their profits. So you are plain wrong.

[intelligenzija]

What comes to throwing away..they don't have to but they often do because they don't want to give out free food in their market areas because it would hurt their profits. So you are plain wrong.


btw. companies never never do something just out of good will.


And I don't doubt that "best before" products are eatable.. and on the one hand it may be good that those poor people get food for free. But on the other hand I find it strange to donate something nobody actually wants.


..something tells me that the hungry people don't give a **** that the food may have been a day old.

x2

[Basillicus]

I've heard that a lot of stores don't even donate old food to the poor even if they come asking but rather throw it away to locked dumpsters. Just to avoid this kind of bad publicity.

Edit: Though these folks aren't usually actually poor but some sort of hippies who are fighting against evil capitalistic machine by eating food from dumpsters rather that paying for it.

[kosse]

But on the other hand I find it strange to donate something nobody actually wants.

Err, that food would disappear in an instant if they'd just give it away here. But they don't for the reasons I already stated.

As for good will..well, they obviously thought they were satisfying irritating aid organisations by giving them free food and getting good reputation at the same time but looks like it backlashed. I doubt they'll be giving any food for now on :)

[kosse]

I've heard that a lot of stores don't even donate old food to the poor even if they come asking but rather throw it away to locked dumpsters. Just to avoid this kind of bad publicity.

Eh, how can you get a bad publicity for old products you don't sell but give away (that is in Finland). Everybody puts them in their mouth on their own responsibility. They know what they are getting. Besides, in Aamulehti these same stores said they don't want to give anything away in the vicinity of their markets because it hurts their business, not because they're afraid of the bad publicity.

[intelligenzija]

Err, that food would disappear in an instant if they'd just give it away here. But they don't for the reasons I already stated.



for sure, I'd grab something too. But in my opinion it is still a different thing, when you donate it :)

[Basillicus]

Eh, how can you get a bad publicity for old products you don't sell but give away (that is in Finland). Everybody puts them in their mouth on their own responsibility. They know what they are getting.

Because some people are spineless wankers who don't want to pay the price of their own mistakes.

[Darkstorn]

Err, that food would disappear in an instant if they'd just give it away here. But they don't for the reasons I already stated.

Actually, they do, and it does disappear in an instant. Many places give out this stuff to poor people and immigrants, and you can even accept it if you're not either of those.

And i sometimes do. >_>

They also give out Army rations from time to time.

[kosse]

for sure, I'd grab something too. But in my opinion it is still a different thing, when you donate it :)

Well, in a perfect world of course all donated goods would be new or fresh. However, we don't live in a perfect world so I'm afraid poor people will often have to do with used goods and non-fresh but edible food.

[kosse]

Actually, they do, and it does disappear in an instant. Many places give out this stuff to poor people and immigrants, and you can even accept it if you're not either of those.

And i sometimes do. >_>

They also give out Army rations from time to time.

Yeah I know they give it away sometimes. I got two full sacks (~50kg) of bread once. As a student you can't be too choosy hehe. But most of it is still not given away and it's not like they just put it there for the taking outside the shop but give to certain organisations like in this case.

[Darkstorn]

Yeah I know they give it away sometimes. I got two full sacks (~50kg) of bread once. As a student you can't be too choosy hehe. But most of it is still not given away and it's not like they just put it there for the taking outside the shop but give to certain organisations like in this case.

Hehe, yeah, i'd say they help students even more than the poor and the immigrants. :)

And yeah, some organizations do this and are operated on volunteer basis, there's one of such nearby and i occasionally pick up something, mostly non-essential stuff like potato chips or candy. :P

[kosse]

Hehe, yeah, i'd say they help students even more than the poor and the immigrants. :)

And yeah, some organizations do this and are operated on volunteer basis, there's one of such nearby and i occasionally pick up something, mostly non-essential stuff like potato chips or candy. :P

And that stuff is mostly close or past it's "best before" too. I still don't see anyone complaining about it. If it's good enough for me it should be good enough for poor Russians is Estonia goddamnit :)

[tommy00]

Estonia torments ethnic Russians with rotten food

And you think, that by now, you have hear`d all.../jeez/
Makes one wonder, what comes next..

[Vympel]

Old guys don't care in what they sunk their teeth. Many of them ate children in ww2

[Rittmester]

In legal terms, "best before" is just the producers reconmended consuming period, in which the foods will remain at it's highest quality.

It's by no means an expiary date - by which bacteria starts "overpowering the product". The industry has in many cases been deliberately sloppy with information on what exactly is ment by "best before", as there's generally more sales when people throw away slightly distrusted food (and buy new) instead of consuming every last bit of it (during a then longer time span).

Tinned foods can be stored for decades. I routinely ate "dead man in box" (RSP - corned beef?) from the 80ies (~abt 20+ yrs old) in the army, and it was really good. The tins were not marked with any "best before" date ...thank God (as I am affected by the psycology in this too).

The Western World is throwing away mountains of food due to bad shopping habbits and the avoidance of the risk of eating something nasty - we all experienced the horror of drinking bad milk, ha?

I do throw away perfectly good food myself though, even before the "best before" date or any other indicators that the food has degenerated in any way. I'm a stupid prick as the rest of my generation - willingly letting myself become fooled by the industry.

...

I agree that the Russian-Estonian spokesman is overreacting in this case, he is probably victimizing to pull benefits from his argumentation. As the thread starter points out; there are political agendas in this neighbouring relationship.

[Mr.K]

I guess we learnt something new today: never help anyone else than the people residing in your own country. Goddamn..

Stop complaning, the respective companies probably got a nice tax writeoff thanks to that deal.

[Calanen]

It turned out that the humanitarian aid, which elderly people of Russian origin receive in the Baltic country, consists of expired food stuffs from Finland. Authorities presumably ship the expired food to the areas where the Russian-speaking population is predominant, the Rossiiskaya Gazeta reports.

At least it wasnt pet food. Doubt the hungry elderly russians mind.

[Dercius]

C´mon, Eating French Fries, or pop corn from the night before may be nasty, but it will do you no harm. Same goes for food after their Best Before. Anyway probably not a single homeless or elderly has complained, probably the one who complained was a fatty politician in order to fit his own political agenda.

[loganinkosovo]

We grew up on day old bread and damned near everything in the Messhall and commissary was past the best buy date back in the 70's 80's and 90's.


I know for certain the Bosnians would have loved to have received those shipments during their war.

It's a BS article.

Besides....how much worse can Borscht get?

[Mr.K]

Besides....how much worse can Borscht get?

Ok you've crossed the line here pal, reportedp-)

[dimasorokine]

Old guys don't care in what they sunk their teeth. Many of them ate children in ww2

WTF?! Sarcasm?

-Dima

[Wojtop]

For few months I've been renting a room in London from a woman left by her husband with 6 underage kids including one seriously disabled baby. They used to make trips after dusk to find something to eat in garbage bins in the shopping center. Best before, expiry date etc had no meaning as long as it was not green, smelled well and tasted well. I guess possibility to get such food without diving in trash bins would be a great improvement both for their nutrition habits and self-esteem.

My opinion - if people are doing it anyway - better to make it official and have some control over the quality.

[Vympel]

C´mon, Eating French Fries, or pop corn from the night before may be nasty, but it will do you no harm. Same goes for food after their Best Before. Anyway probably not a single homeless or elderly has complained, probably the one who complained was a fatty politician in order to fit his own political agenda.

Do you think that they got only food for just few days? Or maybe they can eat all those food stocks before it starts to smell?