Morocco Food Safety Agency Destroys Over 17,000 Tons of Unsafe Products in 2019

ONSSA carried out 74,799 control operations on more than 13 million tons of food products, and 2,243 reports of offenses were drawn up and transmitted to the public prosecutor’s office. Among the reasons justifying the destruction of these products unfit for consumption are their unknown origin, non-compliance with storage and storage conditions, expiration of the expiration date and non-compliance with labeling.

At the import level, more than 8.4 million tons of food products were checked, of which 11,388 tons of non-compliant products were rejected. As for exports, more than 3 million tons of food products were checked and resulted in the issuance of 139,845 health and phytosanitary certificates, ONSSA continues, from the same source.

Red fruit plants, fruit plants and ornamental plants have also been checked. Even the veterinary services of ONSSA have checked all imported animals, including 61,167 head of cattle, more than 9 million day-old chicks and turkeys. Similarly, more than 4 million tons of products intended for animal feed have been checked.

It should be noted that, as part of the monitoring and control program for establishments authorized on a health level by ONSSA, 3,218 compliance control visits of authorized establishments were carried out. Visits at the end of which the Office proceeded to suspend 40 health authorizations, and to withdraw the health authorization of 89 establishments. In addition, the competent services of ONSSA were also interested in the pesticide sector by withdrawing 48 pesticides from the Moroccan market. Similarly, 10 tons of non-compliant pesticides were rejected in 2019.

In terms of veterinary drug control, more than 2,000 control visits were carried out as part of the provincial mixed commissions at the weekly markets. These visits, concludes the Office, resulted in the seizure and destruction of 773 units of veterinary drugs of unknown origin.