VALENCIA, 18 Mar. (EUROPA PRESS) -
The Unió Llauradora i Ramadera has explained that a new shipment of strawberries from Morocco with hepatitis A has been detected, which is the second consecutive in just nine days, for which the organization has demanded 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, as indicated by the agricultural organization in a statement. The notification issued qualifies the presence of this virus as a serious and potentially serious risk.
This new rejection at the border adds to the one already detected earlier with the same characteristics on March 5, reported by AVA-Asaja.
The Unió has pointed out 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," warned the general secretary of La Unió, Carles Peris.
After the first detection, the Moroccan Ministry of Agriculture, Maritime Fisheries, Rural Development, Water and Forests categorically rejected "rumors and false information" regarding the presence of the hepatitis A virus in Moroccan strawberries, pointing out that these They seek to tarnish the reputation of the country's agricultural products, for which they reserve the right to take legal measures.
The Moroccan 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 the 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, La Unió has regretted that this first case has already been added to a new detection with hepatitis A and serious risk for the European alert authority, so "it is no longer an isolated and specific situation."
In line with the demands of the agrarian protests of recent weeks, the organization has denounced "the imports from third countries and the unequal treatment of the production conditions of Spanish and European products with respect to those that come from other countries in outside the European Union, both with regard to food safety and the working and social conditions under which they are produced".
Given this, Peris has called for "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 added.
