Hi all I am new to snus. I found this article on a forum about Swedish match forcing v2 to withdrawal there snus bc it's has to much bacteria on it. Here's the English translation. Has anyone heard of this? V2 claims they pasteurize there snus and use there own snus standard which is the same as swedish match. The just ordered 30 cans of thunder frosted and the whole reason I switched to skis was for the health benefits. Also since v2 is in Denmark is there snus still regulated by the FDA like the snus that is produced in Sweden?

Translate from google:
Swedish Match: Danish snuff is filthy 2011-02-04 06:20

The Swedish Tobacco giant Swedish Match requires that the competitor V2 withdraws its moist snuff from the market. The reason is that snus has a high amount of bacteria, the newspaper Dagens Industri.
Sheet Swedish Match, in a letter demanded that the Danish competitor withdraws snuff from the Swedish and Norwegian markets, where low-cost manufacturer V2 is increasing rapidly.
. According to Swedish Match, writes DI, is both the bacterial load and the toxicological content well above levels from both the Swedish National Food Administration and the EU.

In some cases, it is about 100 percent above the threshold, then twice against what is considered acceptable.
"If there is repentance and after our contact, then we move on. There might be the Market", says Henrik Olsson of Swedish Match to Dagens Industri.

This has been discussed previously at the SnusOn forum. What they concluded there was that Swedish Match is afraid of V2's growth in the tobacco industry, and is throwing stuff out there to set a spoke in their wheel. In V2's defense, their bacteria level is in fact a bit higher than SM's products,  but that's because they make snus with extremely low TSNA levels. Higher TSNA levels equals less bacteria, and the other way around. But it's nothing dangerous. If it was, V2 wouldn't probably be able to sell their products. From what they said also, is that they have to follow the Swedish food standards (as snus is considered a food product).

So don't worry!

I have a nice pinch of Thunder Los in right now, something this good couldn't be bad

Thanks for your reply. I always thought the more bacteria meant higher levels of tnsa. I am incorrect or is there different types of bacteria present in snus? It makes sense that Swedish match is out to trash there competition.

Thanks for your reply. I always thought the more bacteria meant higher levels of tnsa. I am incorrect or is there different types of bacteria present in snus? It makes sense that Swedish match is out to trash there competition.

There's bacteria in everything. Just different amounts.

Here's V2's response on the subject @ SnusOn:

"As i personally see it is the monopoly has woken up and suddenly we have become a competitor…

I think we brought some innovation into the business, which was needed.

From day 1 we want to apply to the same rule and standards as SM. We have made many analisis durring the years and we have always fund the results well bellow SM limits in Gothiatek. Durring next week we will release a official statemant regarding limits and results. We love this business and would never supply bad quality. V2 dont have the same over 100 years of experience as SM, but we do what we can to continually improve and refine our quality.

Regarding the tobacco question: We buy all our tobacco from the world's leading leaf tobacco merchant and processor (American company) who does testing and quality check of everything they sell… and that is not cheap tobacco.

Regarding bacteria: we have more bacteria then SM, but within was is allowed in Sweden. And that is something we choose. If you heat the tobacco more, you get lower level on bacteria and higher level of nitrosamines (TSNA). TSNA is harmfull, bacteria is not."

Here is the thread if you want to read through: http://www.snuson.com/forum/showthread.php?18463-Swedish-Match-claims-V2-snus-is-poor-quality&highlight=bacteria

Thanks for the info .... Have a good one.