Morocco’s Ministry of Agriculture, Maritime Fisheries, Rural Development, and Water and Forests, through its Secretariat of State for Maritime Fisheries, announced on Monday a ban on harvesting and selling shellfish products from the Taourta-Oum Labouir area, which falls under the Dakhla maritime district until the environment is fully purified.
In a statement, the ministry said that a series of tests conducted by the National Institute for Halieutic Research (INRH) in the Taourta-Oum Labouir classified shellfish zone showed the presence of marine toxins in mussels at levels exceeding the acceptable standards, Morocco’s Press Agency (MAP) reported.
The ministry urges consumers to only purchase packaged products that bear sanitary identification labels and are sold at authorized official markets.
Shellfish sold informally or in bulk provides no guarantee of safety and poses a public health risk, the statement concluded.