The farmer who raised the alarm about strawberries with hepatitis: "Only 10% of the products that enter from Morocco are checked"

David Vigario Merida

Merida

Updated Wednesday, March 6, 2024-23:13

The Valencian farmer

Cristóbal Aguado

was the one who raised the alarm about the health alert, but any Spanish organization or institution that had the same information could have done so.

Producer of citrus products, rice and persimmons, he has the habit of periodically reviewing the RASFF (Rapid Alert System Feed and Food) community portal, an official alert system that the European Union has created to guarantee a rapid reaction from the authorities of food safety in case of public health risks in the food chain.

And last Monday, this platform notified the danger with reference 20241531: "

Presence of Hepatitis A in strawberries from Morocco

."

Red light.

As usual, the system did not publicly specify the location, nor the amount seized, but apparently it was 1,500 kilograms that entered through the port of Algeciras on February 19,

although they were not put up for sale

, according to the importer who brought them to Spain to introduce them to the market.

For the moment, the Government (neither the Ministry of Agriculture nor the Ministry of Consumer Affairs) has not commented on the matter.

"We are aware that only 10% of all the merchandise that arrives from that country is inspected, or less," laments Aguado, a veteran agricultural leader of the AVA-ASAJA association, who denounces that on most occasions the inspectors Managers "check just one box of an entire container and that's it," but they do not continue the task exhaustively "with the entire shipment."

Added to this latest serious health alert so far this year are

up to 47 other notices of imports from Morocco

, including another one involving strawberries.

It happened, as COAG recalls, on February 14 when the presence of Norovirus GII - a group of harmful viruses - was discovered in this fruit.

COAG Andalucía has highlighted that the entry of these contaminated products is due to the fact that "only between 1% and 5% of imported agri-food products are analyzed randomly and, what is worse, the results are not expected to release the merchandise to the market."

For all these reasons, this organization yesterday requested the "immediate stoppage" of imports of strawberries and other fresh products from Morocco.

The president of AVA-ASAJA agrees with the diagnosis: "There is no control in the arrival of Moroccan products, but neither in the country of origin", which is another factor to take into account.

"There is no transparency whatsoever, nor are inspections carried out on the ground by our country, as is the case with shipments that we make to other destinations, such as the United States," he laments.

The Americans, he describes,

send their experts to review, "on the field", the Spanish crops

, even with the presence of "health experts who are capable of reviewing the products, for example, our oranges, who also travel to the ports to then another control in the ports, a review that continues at the entrance door to that country.

This is absolute health monitoring, but one that Spain lacks: "Here Morocco has carte blanche to do whatever it wants with its products, and everyone is silent, we don't really know what we owe them for this to be the case," he says.

FECAL WATER

The main suspicion made by this farmers' association is that the contamination of infected strawberries in Morocco has occurred due to the irrigation of farms "with fecal water."

This is a practice that has been reported, so far without success, on other occasions and that also affects products such as lettuce, tomatoes or watermelons that also arrive from the African country.

"Our strawberries, like other products, pass all types of traceability controls, they are subject to rigorous health control, like all those in Europe, but that does not happen with those from third countries."

It is the so-called "unfair competition", one of the major complaints that has led farmers and ranchers to protest in the streets in the last month.

"The worst of all," complains the Valencian producer, "is that since our complaint here, no one has opened their mouth when we are referring to a worrying issue."

It is, both because it is "a serious risk to the health of consumers", but also because "it can bring problems to the strawberry market, even affecting Spanish strawberries," he warns.

In this type of situation, where a "collective psychosis" is created among consumers, a first reaction is usually to stop buying the affected product, whether it is grown and treated in Spain or of Moroccan origin.

"Our traceability is extraordinary, even with the use of pesticides, even though they are the few that Europe already allows, but

in the end everyone ends up being lumped together

because people are very clueless."

The problem is that a good part of consumers do not realize the origin of the packaging and labeling that the products usually carry, which should be highlighted, in theory, on the shelves: "Consumers purchase these contaminated products without knowing it, which is , clearly, an attack against public health that is being allowed by the current protocol," says COAG.

Aguado points to the "necessary and urgent" intervention of the Ministry of Agriculture to clarify the situation and take a series of concrete measures "in order to avoid any incident because right now it is a potential danger for the entire food chain."

The agricultural representative recalls that in the so-called third countries neither environmental measures are respected ("they use products prohibited in Europe") nor do they have adequate working conditions.

"They can then sell cheaper on Spanish shelves because we have many more expenses and by selling below our costs they manage to earn more," he explains.

This campaign there is a situation where the entry of strawberries into supermarkets has been brought forward due to the light temperatures this winter.

"Other years they arrived later, but right now

there have been strawberries on the market practically since January

due to the climatic changes that are occurring," he reasons.

Imported from Huelva

The strawberries with hepatitis A that entered Spain from Morocco through the Port of Algeciras (Cádiz) did not reach the consumer because they were not put on the market, as the Huelva company that imported them has informed the Andalusian Government, according to publications Eph.

There would be 1,500 kilos of strawberries that arrived on February 19.

According to the version that the importer has given to the Board, he had sold them, but

the buyer finally did not take them and they became bad

.

The Andalusian president, Juan Manuel Moreno, explained that the regional administration is doing "all the appropriate checks" to confirm that they have not been distributed, "and above all, that they have not been consumed."

Moreno has denounced that the central government "

does not want to assume its responsibility

" but "customs controls failed" because "those strawberries should not have entered Spain" and has demanded that the State "examine" the established protocols and avoid these situations. when products arrive from third countries, as is the case of Morocco.