A court in Pietarsaari found that the vets intentionally violated regulations set down by the Ministry of Forestry and Agriculture. Both have been fined. Authorities got involved when another veterinarian blew the whistle on what was going, and was fired.
The two veterinarians were employed by a Snellman slaughterhouse which produced meat products. Regulations require cow carcasses to be tested for BSE, or mad cow disease, at certain intervals along the processing line. These samples are sent to the ministry for testing.
However, if a sample was ruined or otherwise unfit for testing, the two veterinarians would replace it with another that was taken earlier. They feared that if the ministry was unable to properly test a sample, as a precaution it would destroy the carcass as well as three others nearest to it in the processing line. This would of course cost Snellman four entire animals.
Prosecutors also claimed that the two vets instructed their subordinates to do the same when sending test samples to the National Veterinary and Food Research Institute. Switching samples apparently became normal practice.