Contraband caviar to feed homeless

Some homeless people in Italy will be savoring beluga caviar this Christmas, thanks to officials who seized 88 pounds of the contraband delicacy from smugglers.

The caviar has been given to charities to be served alongside the traditional foods they offer the poor on Christmas -- lentils, pasta and cake -- officials said Saturday.

Italy and many other countries have banned beluga caviar, often the most expensive variety, in hopes of saving the dwindling population of sturgeon that produce the salty eggs.

Late last month, officials seized 88 pounds of Russian beluga caviar stashed in the refrigerator at a woman’s home in Milan, said Juri Mantegazza, an inspector for Italy’s forestry corps, which enforces endangered species regulations. The delicacy was destined for the black market in Milan, Venice and Monte Carlo, the inspector said.

The woman and two Polish citizens were arrested, Mantegazza said. But what to do with all those confiscated fish eggs?

“I came up with the idea of giving away all the caviar to the poor,” Mantegazza, who is based in the northern town of Tradate Varese, said in a telephone interview. “Because last year, after a similar operation, we ended up destroying all the confiscated caviar.”

Instead, this year’s haul is being donated to the Red Cross, Franciscan monks, homes that care for the elderly, and other organizations that will prepare holiday lunches for the homeless and poor in the Milan area, he said.

The Rev. Massimo Mapelli, who helps run a shelter for the homeless and recovering addicts, said his center would get 22 pounds of caviar for 82 diners. That’s about 4 1/2 ounces per person, about double to quadruple the usual serving.