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Updated Monday, March 18, 2024-12:35
Health What is hepatitis A: what are its symptoms and how is it transmitted?
Agriculture The farmer who raised the alarm about strawberries with hepatitis: "Only 10% of the products that enter from Morocco are checked"
The Unió Llauradora i Ramadera has reported this Monday that a
new shipment of strawberries from Morocco with hepatitis A
has been detected , which is the second consecutive in just nine days, and asks that
health security be guaranteed.
The RASFF, a rapid alert system for the control of food and feed in the European Union, published last Friday, March 15, a new alert regarding the presence of Hepatitis A in strawberries from Morocco, Unió reports in a statement.
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Agriculture.
The farmer who raised the alarm about strawberries with hepatitis: "Only 10% of the products that enter from Morocco are checked"
Editor: DAVID VIGARIO Mérida
The farmer who raised the alarm about strawberries with hepatitis: "Only 10% of the products that enter from Morocco are checked"
Health alert.
Morocco does not detect hepatitis in the water or in the strawberries from the field of the contaminated batch that entered Spain
Editorial: EFE Rabat
Morocco does not detect hepatitis in the water or in the strawberries from the field of the contaminated batch that entered Spain
The notification issued, he adds, qualifies the presence of this virus as a
serious and potentially serious risk
, and this new rejection at the border adds to the one already detected on March 9 with the same characteristics.
The Unió warns that the health of European consumers cannot be put at risk and therefore citizens must be informed about the controls carried out on products imported from third countries and in this case on strawberries that come from Morocco. .
"We are very afraid that only
random controls and inspections
are carried out and therefore discovering a disease or pest
is like a lottery
," says Carles Peris, general secretary of La Unió.
Morocco criticized "false information"
After the first detection, the Ministry of Agriculture, Maritime Fisheries, Rural Development, Water and Forests of Morocco rejected "rumors and false information" regarding the presence of the hepatitis A virus in Moroccan strawberries, pointing out that they seek tarnish the reputation of the country's agricultural products, according to the La Unió statement.
The Ministry explained that, after receiving the health notification regarding a batch of strawberries exported from Morocco, the National Food Safety Office (ONSSA) opened an investigation and identified the field and packaging unit in question, in addition to tracking the shipment. carrying out all the necessary analyzes in order to evaluate its quality and determine any possible health risk.
However, to this first case there has already been added a new detection with hepatitis A and serious risk for the European alert authority, so
"it is no longer an isolated and specific situation,"
warns the agricultural association.
In recent weeks, La Unió has protested against imports from third countries and the
"unequal" treatment of the production conditions
of Spanish and European products with respect to those coming from other countries outside the European Union, both in with regard to
food safety and the working and social conditions
under which they are produced.
Peris thus demands "more coherence" in EU policies and those applied to imported products and mirror clauses so that there is equality in the conditions imposed on EU farmers and those who produce outside the community territory.
"We are not asking for better treatment, but simply equality
. The EU must take everything related to consumer health more seriously and establish more controls and ask for reciprocity for compliance with European standards," he asserts.