Between 2007 and 2009, the organisation tested some 300 meat samples from grocery shops in Helsinki. The samples included mixed minced meat of pork and beef, ground beef, ground poultry and marinated meat.
Some of the samples had traces of coliform bacteria, which is abundant in faecal matter. Yersinia enterocolitica, which causes acute gastroenteritis, was found in three of the marinated meat samples
The Environmental Administration says meat quality was poorer than in a similar test performed eight years earlier. In 2002, only two percent of samples were found to be of poor quality—now that figure is 10 percent.
The organisation says the abundance of bacteria in the meat may be due to long shelf life, disruptions in the cold chain or excessive storage temperatures.
By law, food retailers are required to store ground meat below 4 ºC. However the Environmental Administration found that around a third of shops kept meat at warmer temperatures.