Savo bakers are upset at new hygiene guidelines for local delicacy. About this reported Helsing Sanomat.

At Hanna Partanen’s kalakukko bakery in Kuopio, baker Anneli Koskelo checked on Tuesday afternoon, whether her kalakukko fish pasties were baking in the oven at the right pace and on time.
     
Kalakukko is a traditional Finnish dish from the eastern region of Savo made from fish baked inside a loaf of rye dough. It is, perhaps, a distant cousin of the Cornish pasty, although doubtless supporters of both dishes would deny the suggestion.
      The pasties are taken out of the oven in the evening after they have been baking for up to 12 hours.
      A Savonian vendace kalakukko can still be bought at Partanen’s bakery or at the market for EUR 20 per kilo.
      A one-kilo ahvenkukko with a perch filling costs EUR 23.
      However, there is a lot of pressure to raise prices, the price of ahvenkukko in particular.
     
”The reason for the pressure to raise prices are the new hygiene guidelines introduced by the Finnish Food Safety Authority (Evira). From now on we will be allowed to use for our fish pasties only fish that has been cleaned aboard a fishing vessel or in certified food handling establishments”, laments Managing Director Kari Kekäläinen from Hanna Partanen’s kalakukko bakery.
      Traditionally, kalakukko bakeries have accepted perch from small-scale fishermen and from those who fish out of pure interest. The catch has been cleaned immediately on the shore or out on the ice in wintertime, and this has never caused any health problems to consumers, according to kalakukko bakers.
     
”The new guideline by Evira concerning the cleaning of kalakukko fish sucks, and it is prepared for other kinds of circumstances”, snorts Katariina Helin, the owner of the competing enterprise, Irene Partanen’s kalakukko bakery.
      ”Last summer Evira issued demands relating to the hygiene risks in fish processing that could have thrown the entire kalakukko into a waste bin. When Evira’s intentions failed, it now has to invent other ways to tighten the processing of kalakukko fish”, Helin continues with some dismay.
     
The guidelines concerning the control of baking and sales of kalakukko are in compliance with the EU legislation on the hygiene of foodstuffs. The guidelines include precise paragraphs concerning for instance the structural and functional requirements of bakeries, in-house control, as well as the handling and storing of kalakukko pasties in retail outlets.
     
The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry has proposed that the EU hygiene directives should be amended so that fish for kalakukko could be cleaned on the shore, reports Pirjo Korpela, the deputy chief of Evira’s Hygiene Unit.
      Finland’s proposal has not been supported by any other EU countries, probably not least because they have not the faintest idea what the esoteric product is. The day-to-day running of the Union is almost certainly filled with requests from different countries to safeguard traditional and unique dishes or utensils that have been used for centuries but suddenly find themselves falling foul of one-size-fits-all regulations.
     
”When it comes to legislation, kalakukko has been a wild product in Finland. The ministry decided already a year ago that the status would be changed, as the treatment of the kalakukko is not in compliance with the EU legislation”, Korpela continues.
      In Korpela’s opinion, it is groundless to blame Evira for trying to kill off kalakukko bakeries.”We are just trying to persuade the establishments to adhere to the EU legislation”, Korpela argues.
     
     

FACTFILE: Kalakukko is made from fish and bacon baked inside a loaf of bread

     
Kalakukko is a traditional food which is made and served most commonly in the Finnish region of Savo.
     
Since 2002, kalakukko has had Traditional Speciality Guaranteed (TSG) status in Europe.
     
Traditionally, kalakukko is prepared from fish and bacon baked inside a loaf of rye dough. However, the filling can also be meat-free. A kalakukko has to be baking for a long time. If the filling consists of perch, the baking process will take up to 12 hours.
     
The name kalakukko is believed to be associated with a packed-lunch food of fish and meat, and not in any way with fowl. Incidentally, kala is Finnish for ”fish” while kukko generally means ”rooster”.
     
Vendace (muikku in Finnish, and Coregonus albula in Latin) is a small freshwater fish of the salmon family, found in lakes in Northern Europe.