Germany: BLE Inspectors visit Morocco

From the end of November to the beginning of December, representatives of the Federal Institute for Agriculture and Food (BLE) responsible for checking fruit and vegetable imports, visited their colleagues in Morocco. The main focus was on the quality and labelling of tomatoes, peppers, courgettes and citrus fruits, and on the cultivation, harvesting, sorting and packaging of tomatoes and peppers in Agadir, as well as that of olives and citrus fruits in Marrakesh.

Inspectors from the EACCE and the BLE examine clementines.
Photo: BLE

Since 2014, the BLE has been cooperating with the Moroccan Control Service EACCE (Etablissement Autonome de Contrôle et de Coordination des Exportations). The EACCE is an authority under the Moroccan Ministry of Agriculture. Among other things, it is responsible for the coordination and conformity check of fruit and vegetable exports from Morocco.

The EACCE's conformity checks for fresh fruit and vegetables take place in 237 packing stations nationwide and are based on the special marketing standards of the ER as well as the international UNECE and CODEX standards. The general marketing standard is not applied. In addition to the marketing standards, the national laws of the importing countries are also taken into account. Most of the deliveries go to the EU, the USA, Russia and Canada.

Morocco, as an export country, has to cover long distances (e.g. four to five days to Germany). This is taken into consideration when assessing the quality of the products in order to ensure that even at the last trading stage the product remains of a standard quality.

The work program was rounded off by the visit of the women's cooperative "Afoulki" near Agadir. Since 2004, this company has been producing, marketing and exporting argan oil and argan oil products. In the spring of 2017, a visit for the EACCE to come to the BLE is planned.

For more information:
Bundesanstalt für Landwirtschaft und Ernährung
Deichmanns Aue 29
53179 Bonn

Tel.: 0228 6845-0