“There was great interest on the part of municipalities, all counties filed a request for the preserves. There was a maximum number of cans that each county could get, based on the number of people living in the county,” Merle Ploompuu, chief specialist at the department for welfare at the Ministry of Social Affairs, told BNS.

Ploompuu said that all counties had applied for the maximum number of cans, as all municipalities had gone for the maximum as well. The only exception were the municipalities of Harju County, which had applied to get a slightly smaller number than they were entitled to.

In accordance with an agreement between the ministries of rural and social affairs, municipalities filed their requests with the latter. The transportation of the preserves was then organized by the Ministry of Rural Affairs.

Between November 2015 and the end of February 2016, the Ministry of Rural Affairs acquired approximately 950,000 cans of pork for the national operation stockpile, paying altogether some €1m for it. The preserves were made from meat originating in the Part III protection zone to prevent the spread of African swine fever (ASF). The meat used to make the preserves is from healthy pigs, and has been checked by veterinary labs to rule out infection with ASF.

About 50,000 cans of pork were handed to the Estonian Defence Forces, the Rescue Board, the Police and Border Guard Board, and the Academy of Security Sciences.

The preserves left over from the round of distribution to municipalities will be given to the Defense Ministry to be used in its area of government.