New health barrier in Europe: four Moroccan products are cleared

Since this Thursday, farm animals and certain products of animal origin imported into the European Union must comply with the same restrictions imposed on European producers regarding antimicrobials.

The aim is to prevent products from animals that have received antibiotics to accelerate their growth or increase their yield from entering the European market. The measure also applies to antimicrobial medicines that the European Union wishes to reserve for treating certain human infections.

To continue exporting the products concerned, non-EU countries had to provide Brussels with guarantees regarding their farming practices and control systems.

Morocco has cleared this stage, but only for some of its products.

According to the list published by the European Commission, the Kingdom retains access to the European market for four major sectors: poultry, aquaculture products, honey and casings intended in particular for the food industry.

On Bladi.net : Anchovies from Morocco Trigger a Food Alert in France

In the aquaculture sector, the authorization covers farmed fish and products derived from them in particular. Certain mollusks may also enter the Union when they meet the other European health requirements.

Wild fishing, however, is not covered by this new regulation. Wild animals and products derived from them were expressly excluded from its scope.

Several Moroccan products absent from the list

The entry dedicated to the Kingdom provides no access, under this new list, for cattle, sheep and goats, pigs or horses. Milk, eggs, rabbits and farmed game are not listed either.

This absence does not necessarily mean that already significant Moroccan exports will be abruptly halted. For several of these categories, flows to Europe are small, nonexistent or already limited by other health regulations.

It nevertheless shows that any new export project in these sectors will first have to obtain the necessary European approval.

For the four authorized categories, Morocco’s presence on the list does not exempt operators from the usual checks. Shipments must be accompanied by the required certificates and guarantee that the animals concerned have not received antimicrobials prohibited by the European Union.

The Moroccan authorities will also have to maintain a control system deemed sufficiently reliable by Brussels. A failure to implement the commitments could lead Europe to suspend authorization for one or more categories.

The measure, detailed by the European Commission, does not constitute a food alert targeting any particular Moroccan product. It creates a new permanent condition for access to the European market for all countries located outside the Union.

It therefore differs from occasional alerts triggered after the discovery of a contaminant or a problem in a shipment, such as the one that recently concerned anchovies from Morocco.

For Moroccan exporters of poultry, aquaculture products, honey and casings, the essential point is preserved: their goods can continue to enter the European Union as of this September 3.