Morocco: Why you should be wary of olive oil sold on the street

The olive season brings back to the forefront each year a crucial debate for public health: the quality of oil sold outside official channels. In recent weeks, street vendors and neighborhood grocery stores have seen a surge in stocks of olive oil with no indication of origin, exposing citizens to potentially dangerous products. Reports have already warned of the existence of counterfeit networks, not hesitating to mix olive oil with cheap cooking oils or harmful chemicals to undercut prices.

Faced with this threat, Mohamed Benkaddour, president of the National Federation of Consumer Associations in Morocco, is sounding the alarm. For him, the danger is omnipresent, as the consumer has no way to verify the conditions of harvesting, pressing or storage, nor to know if the olives used contained pesticide residues that will persist in the finished product. He insists that "the time has come to put an end to uncontrolled sales in the informal sector."

The Federation therefore calls for firm action by the National Office of Sanitary Safety of Food Products (ONSSA) and municipal health services. While industrial production is standardized and pressing for personal consumption is an individual responsibility, bulk commercial sales are being singled out. Mr. Benkaddour advocates for zero tolerance: according to him, merchants who sell oil to citizens without certification "simply have no right to exist." He urges the authorities to systematically seize any oil not from approved channels, without even trying to analyze its quality, to stem the scourge of counterfeiting.