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Morocco’s Poultry Safety Crisis: 92% of Chicken Meat from Uncontrolled Sources
Saturday 6 June 2020, by
The Economic, Social and Environmental Council (CESE) is concerned about the risks to which poultry consumers are exposed. According to a report, many unlicensed companies manage to put their products on the market.
Only 27 poultry slaughterhouses have been approved against more than 15,000 unlicensed stores. According to the official data received by the Council, 8% of the chicken meat intended for consumption comes from controlled units.
In 2018, nearly 92% of the 570,000 tons were produced by uncontrolled units. This situation is due to the absence of an integrated public policy for food safety, notes the CESE. This leads to imbalances on the one hand in the management of the formal and informal sectors, and on the other hand, the level of consumer demands. There are also the roles assigned to consumer rights associations.
The CESE believes that there is a paradox in Morocco between the export sectors which respect the strict standards of international markets. However, the control system relating to the sanitary safety of products intended for export respects the standards, prerequisites for export. The National Office of Food Safety (ONSSA) has made it possible to determine the measures to protect the consumer and regulate this sector where Morocco has made significant progress since 2009.
To remedy this difficulty, the Council proposes the adoption of a public policy for health safety, while calling for an integration between the government bodies and ONSSA, now under the supervision of the Prime Minister.