The detection of Hepatitis A in strawberries imported from Morocco has revived requests, both from the political sphere and within the primary sector, in favor of strengthening border controls on imports from third countries (non-EU). What happened with this product has placed the food alert system organized around the RASFF community portal (Rapid Alert System Feed and Food, in English) on the front line, in which the countries of the European Union plus Norway and Iceland echo the all notifications regarding risks arising from food, materials with which it is in contact or feed, which may pose a problem for animal health or the environment.
In this database, Spain is one of the most active countries. Specifically, according to data provided by the European Commission (the annual study for 2023 has not yet been published), it registered up to 553 notifications of this nature last year (either originating in national territory or echoing notices from other countries). countries). In 2022, the number of notices, according to a search carried out by this medium, reached 324 cases. This represents an increase of more than 58.6% between both years. In 2021 it was 524.
Far above Spain, the activity of Germany and the Netherlands stands out, which in 2023 carried out up to 1,764 and 907 notifications, respectively. Last year Spain remained in the top 10, specifically, it was the sixth country with the highest number of notices. Along with Germans and Dutch, Belgians (727), Italians (684) and Bulgarians (567) surpassed us in warnings. In the previous year, Seg push The ‘Annual Report of the Alert and Cooperation Network’ corresponds to Germany, which remained the active country with 586 notifications transmitted by ITIDA, followed by the Dutch with 559 notifications, followed by the Belgians (428) and the Poles (428). 320).
In this sense, examples such as the detection of Hepatitis A in strawberries imported from Morocco, in which Brussels has given freedom to Spain to take the measures it deems necessary, and the location of pests such as ‘black spot’, in some batches of oranges from from third countries such as South Africa during the past year, have made the RASFF (Rapid Alert System Feed and Food) topical. This last case forced the European Union, after protests by Valencian citrus growers, to impose additional measures such as refrigeration of imports of oranges originating in this African nation.
In this sense, the “reorganization” of border inspections with the aim of improving the efficiency of controls on imports from third countries is one of the commitments acquired by the Minister of Agriculture, Luis Planas, with the main agricultural organizations (Asaja ). , COAG and UPA). All of this, in the context of the conversations that have been taking place in recent days to try to forge a definitive agreement in the coming days to deactivate the mobilizations in the countryside.
