STOCKHOLM, Tuesday 22 June 2010 (AFP) - Sweden's agriculture minister pleaded with the EU's health and consumer policy commissioner Tuesday to save one of the country's most loved -- and loathed -- delicacies: stinky fermented herring.

Sweden and Finland have a special exemption under European Union rules to sell fatty fish from the Baltic sea, which have dioxin levels that are too high to be sold elsewhere.

Surstroemming, or fermented Baltic herring, falls under the exemption but it is only valid until the end of 2011, leading Swedish Agriculture Minister Eskil Erlandsson to plead the case with visiting EU commissioner John Dalli.

"He informed the commissioner about the importance of surstroemming for our cultural heritage in Sweden and how important it is that we continue to produce it," Erlandsson's spokeswoman Sofia Joengren told AFP.

Asked whether Dalli had tried the traditional delicacy known for its pungent odour, Erlandsson replied, according to the Swedish TT news agency: "His colleague recommended him not to do it."