The shelf life of caviar is typically a couple of months, though a couple of varieties can be frozen and can be safely stored for up to a year.

Best practices indicate that all caviar should be consumed on the day of opening, but when some of it remains it is advisable to gently flatten the caviar, cover in a plastic wrap and store in a refrigerator surrounded by crushed ice at a temperature that is just above freezing.

Most importantly, it isn’t a good idea to keep your caviar in a coffin when attempting to transport it across land.

Police in the Russian city of Khabarovsk pulled over a speeding hearse last week. But instead of finding that the drivers were late for a funeral, they found half a tonne of illegal caviar hidden inside the renegade vehicle.

The haul, which was stashed concealed by funeral wreathes and stuffed inside a coffin, is believed to have a value of 10 million roubles, or £100,000.

When initially asked by police, the driver tried to fob officers off by claiming he was transporting a deceased woman from a nearby village to Khabarovsk. Unfortunately for him, a quick look in the hearse indicated otherwise and the apparently dead woman was nowhere to be found.

Two employees from a funeral agency have been detained, reports from Russia indicated.

With the population of sturgeon falling, the caviar industry in Russia has become heavily regulated, which has led to a rise in the production of illegal caviar.