The European Union’s Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF) has issued a fresh health alert following the finding of Echinococcus (fish parasite worms) in Moroccan hake during border inspections in Spain, reported Spanish outlet RTVE on Wednesday.
Spanish authorities promptly removed the product from the market; however, it remains unclear as to whether additional catches will still be sold. The European group took the problem quite seriously, stating that the hake carrying these worms came from Morocco. However, by the confidential nature of their policy, they did not divulge the product’s eventual destination nor the precise border crossing at which the parasite was identified.
Another caution was issued a month earlier when traces of the herbicide “chlorpyrifos” were found in Moroccan melons at higher levels than were permissible.
In February and March, the RASFF issued a warning pertaining to a cargo of strawberries from Morocco heading for Spain, prompting concerns from Spanish farmers about competition.
Following verification, Morocco’s food safety watchdog ONSSA reported negative findings for hepatitis A and norovirus, verifying that the irrigation water in the implicated strawberry field was clear of infection.
The Moroccan Ministry of Agriculture, for its part, has stated that it will take legal action if disinformation about the purported contamination of Moroccan strawberries with the hepatitis A virus continues to be disseminated.
The same holds true for Moroccan watermelons, with RASFF sounding the alarm bells regarding the presence of methomyl pesticide, which resulted in follow-up investigations by ONSSA.
Since early 2023, Morocco has recorded only five RASFF alerts linked to its fruits and vegetables, out of a total of 497 alerts worldwide.