Spanish Firms Accused of Mislabeling Moroccan Produce, Evade Sanctions

These agricultural organizations such as Coag, Asaja, UPA, and the Association of Exporting Companies Coexphal, have asked the Spanish authorities to reveal the identity of the 11 companies in the province of Almería accused of relabeling horticultural products originating from Morocco, without success. "This gives the impression that something is being hidden," said Andrés Góngora, general secretary of Coag Almería.

In total, more than 50 complaints were filed in 2020 by agricultural organizations on suspicion of sales of Moroccan products grown in Almería such as tomatoes, watermelons or cucumbers. "The administration tells us that more than 400 inspections have been carried out, but we have no information on the results that follow. This situation is causing harm to local farmers in Almería who are facing unfair competition," says Góngora. This fraudulent activity also poses a problem of traceability insofar as the quality of a product could be attributed to Almería, when the product comes from Agadir.

The relabeling activity is not punished or regulated by a law. The agricultural organizations also accused supermarkets of resorting to this false practice. This week, European Commissioner Stella Kyriakides said the EU had not received any information or complaints from Spain about this alleged fraudulent relabeling activity.