Morocco Suspends Frozen Meat Imports Amid Storage Concerns

The government decided, on October 15, 2024, to authorize professionals to import frozen meats for a period of three months. But the operation subsequently turned into a regular import of non-frozen meats, prompting the government to suspend the import of frozen meats, reports Al Ahdath Al Maghribia. At the origin of this suspension, the technical difficulties in the conditions of their conservation in the storage and sales places. Many non-approved slaughterhouses were closed by the ONSSA during the import of the first cargo of frozen meats. Thus, importers had to resort to private slaughterhouses, to avoid the meat from spoiling.

The problems faced by public slaughterhouses are real. Responding to a question about the rehabilitation of public slaughterhouses in the House of Councilors, the Minister of the Interior, Abdelouafi Laftit, indicated that they "suffer from many dysfunctions", including their obsolescence, the lack of adequate hygiene conditions, and the necessary safety standards, the lack of equipment, as well as various maintenance and maintenance defects. The cold storage facilities for meat products are also regularly checked by ONSSA in accordance with the applicable regulatory provisions due to the defective storage conditions of the highly perishable meat products, which jeopardizes the health of consumers.

It was also found that the import did not contribute to reducing the final cost of red meat, as the government had hoped.