Spanish Supermarkets Pull Moroccan Strawberries After Hepatitis A Scare

Many supermarkets like Eroski in Spain prefer to source red fruits from foreign countries including Morocco to reduce costs. Three months ago, Eroski was offering Moroccan strawberries in its shelves. But the situation has changed in March, after a health alert was issued regarding a batch of Moroccan strawberries contaminated with hepatitis A. Now, "At Eroski, the origin of the strawberry is national," the Basque chain indicated on a sign posted at the entrance of all its stores.

The entry of these Moroccan strawberries contaminated with hepatitis A into the Spanish market has raised consumers’ concerns about the quality of imported food products and the controls they should be subjected to, relays Merca2. Since this alert, Spanish consumers are more vigilant and check the origin of products on the packaging before buying them. Eroski, for its part, has resolutely committed to promoting local products, it said on its website.

To protect consumer health, the agricultural organization COAG is calling for strengthened controls of imported products from third countries at the borders in order to limit the entry of contaminated products into the Spanish and European markets. It advocates, for example, for increasing the number of lots analyzed and that the results of these analyzes be available immediately.