The National Investigation Office (NNI) seized and destroyed beluga caviar with an estimated value of Ft 3 billion in Budapest last week, according to nepszava.hu. The beluga sturgeon (Huso huso), source of the premium caviar, is an endangered species, and distributing products made from the fish is illegal. The NNI has recommended the arrest of the two Russian owners of the company responsible for the crime. The two men are also being accused of fraud and producing counterfeit caviar made of sterlet (Acipenser ruthenus; not an endangered species), food additives, water and gelatin, which is hardly the real thing.
The investigation started in January 2006 based on a report from the environment ministry. Given how the sturgeon is already endangered, we’d like to remind you of a piece we filed almost exactly a year ago about how in Hungary, a much cheaper “fake” caviar is all the rage. Environmentalists can have their “caviar” and eat it too.
