One Dutch company last year imported salmon from Sweden which may have had high levels of cancer-causing dioxins, the food safety body NVWA said on Thursday.

The Swedish food safety authorities confirmed earlier some 200 tonnes of suspect salmon has been sold to other European countries.

The EU banned the sale of salmon and herring from the Baltic Sea in 2002 because of the high levels of dioxins – between three and five times as much as is found in salmon farmed elsewhere, the BBC reported.

The fish is sold and eaten in Sweden, Finland and Latvia and the Swedish authorities say the amount of dioxin it contains is well under EU limits.

Around half the 200 tonnes was sent to France but some has also been sold in the Netherlands and Denmark.

No legal action

According to the NRC, Sweden told the Netherlands about the shipment in March this year. It is not clear how much salmon was involved and no steps were taken against the Dutch importer, the paper said.

There are no indications the company deliberately broke the rules, the spokesman said, and there are no indications the health of the public was at risk.