Production

The hidden side of certification of the organic products

Posted on by Ahmed ESSADKI

The resorting to the intensive use of pesticides in agriculture in the early twentieth century by American agribusinesses has produced fruits and vegetables without visual defect and therefore attractive to consumers. After World War II, as many former farm workers went through amputation of one of their kidneys which was clogged with heavy metals, operators came to realize afterwards that the price to pay for colorful fruits (for example) has been extremely high. The academic world became aware of the effort required to mitigate the potentially devastating effects of chemical molecules served in the agribusiness to improve the appearance and increase yields of the so-called modern agriculture. Since then, the agricultural inputs have continued to ignite debate and, more generally, all the chemicals found in consumed foods, intentionally added or not. At the turn of 2000, panic related in particular to “mad cow disease” was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Consumers increasingly frustrated began seeking an alternative to industrially produced foods. The call to return to healthier farming practices, without addition of synthetic chemical molecules that have been proven for centuries took then an unprecedented size. Many among the developed countries have been taken aback by the magnitude of consumer protest, particularly in Europe. But, the absence of a coherent specific regulation addressing the problem of producing “organic food products” pitched the practical management of the field in the hands of private companies. As a result, the brokers in question began competing with ingenuity on all sorts of pretexts of how to dig deep into pocket of small farmers and cooperatives, particularly African ones, under cover to validate the quality of their Organic products. Now, it is almost impossible to sell such products without going through these brokers of food mercantilism that sometimes are discreetly helped by their own country.

 Profile of an Organic Product

An organic product is supposed to be the antithesis of industrial food products, rejected by consumers due to their concern relating to possible consequences of the consumption of such foods. Indeed, these products contain, or are supposed to contain, all sorts of unwanted chemicals to improve the appearance, consistency, durability and other peculiarities relating to commercial activity. Generally, in Africa, and in Morocco, organic agriculture sounds as euphemism for kind of poor smallholders that they can’t afford buying the farm inputs anyway. Their products are usually sold fresh locally for immediate consumption. Occasionally, these fresh products are processed, in small cooperatives, using ancient techniques to make oils and other extracts that can prolong the life of the base product without altering the nutritional value of the food itself. We are, at this stage, still in the pattern of manufacturing of Organic products. This type of farming has actually disappeared in European countries even if you look hard enough, you can still find a few examples that stand here and there. In short, what European consumers, who are the strongest supporters of the use of Organic products, want is to add, to the privileged lifestyle they have, the consumption of organic food that doesn’t pose any danger to health of consumers. They realize they do not have this kind of food at home, but they know they can get them at will and very cheap on the African continent. From this perspective, business transactions of organic products may seem, a priori, to be potentially beneficial for small African farmers and cooperatives! Indeed, the lack or deficiency of infrastructure and industries on the continent have “protected”, so to speak, many African countries from kind of pollution known to Europe and, therefore, has entitled the vast majority of small farmers for the status of producers of organic foods. At first glance, the equation seems easy to manage. Small farmers easily recognizable perhaps grouped into cooperatives on one side and, on the other, European consumers (or others) that willing to purchase the product at a price above that of same food industrially processed. With proper “mediation” of public authorities, consumers of the north shore of the Mediterranean and the producers of the south shore would both be winners. But it’s too good to be realistic.

 Perspective

 Some time ago, during a group visit of Canton of Fribourg (Switzerland), the guide explained that people in a hilltop village on a hill made ​​their living in ancient times by submitting all traders who took the road that runs along the bottom of the hill to payment of a tithe. Indeed, the passing was necessary for the transit of goods to the North. Otherwise, they blocked access by dropping boulders to close the passage. These people didn’t provide any value added to merchandise in transit. They simply took advantage of their privileged position to extort goods of their owners. Now back to our Organic products that all cooperatives that engage in this work are actually aware of the difficulties they encounter in trying to sell their foods without going through the certification brokers that constitute the bottleneck between these people and their potential clients  in the northern hemisphere. In absolute terms, there is nothing wrong with the certification process. For example, the installation of a scheduled process designed for a particular food in a container of a particular shape within a particular autoclave requires know how and experience that only specialists of the highest caliber have. So it is normal to use their service to authenticate the process considered. That said, one wonders if the certifying brokers mentioned before bring any added value to organic products defined above.

 Comment

 In reality, mercantilist brokers were probably the first to realize that apart from the finding of lack of use of foreign chemical compounds, there was little they could bring as added value to the marketing of organic products. In these circumstances, their efforts to certification may be perceived as work worthless, irrelevant and therefore not profitable. They then, as they know so well how to do, decided to master the organic certification field by subtracting it from the hands of “rights holders”, small farmers mentioned above. To this end, they have begun to complicate the management of organic certification by setting in it factors from ecology and / or biological cycles and / or biodiversity and others whose understanding goes far beyond comprehension of small cooperatives. Indeed, the purpose of small cooperatives is to simply survive by selling regional products to consumers concerned to avoid unwanted chemicals that they don’t want to have in their plates.

 In conclusion, having to go through the certification of foreign offices to sell our Organic products to foreign consumers, so be it. But it is a national asset; Morocco may then apply common sense rules in places elsewhere in the world. The company who wants to certify organic food products in Morocco must commit (and be followed for this purpose) to form Moroccan candidates on the field in a reasonable time schedule. Because in the end, that a private foreign company seeking to make money in this market is quite consistent with its business goals. But that the Moroccan officials make “certification broker” the short scale to help him make money more easily (for example, by issuing an order permitting a foreign company with a sole shareholder to levy a “tithe” on our organic products for export), that is what really gives concern.

Expertises

The ONSSA’s work in terms of statistics

Posted on by Ahmed ESSADKI

The renewals of the research funds that are given to academic projects in developed countries are generally subordinate to the researchers’ previous results. For those applicants who have occasionally been unlucky, sometimes the results of their investigations are not very encouraging. For lack of alternatives, some ask to statistician professionals that they arrange for them an “ad hoc test” to help them present comforting results to funders. One might be surprised, but sometimes statistics can convey any message you want them to say. In Morocco, ONSSA (National Office for Food Safety) also uses statistics to validate before the authorities the “perfect quality of its interventions”. Generally, outside the quantities of goods seized or destroyed, nothing of what these statistics say is interpretable. This article looks a little more closely at the safety of this approach on the part of this organization.

 Implementation of food control

 According to the rules, the verifications of the quality and / or safety of food products available on the market in Morocco are today still mainly assessed on the basis of analysis and tests. These checks are either kind of sensory (smell, visual inspection, touch etc.) or laboratory analysis. The advantage of laboratory tests is that they are conducted according to established rules, reproducible and verifiable whatever the technician who performs them. Sensory assessments are more uncertain although there also are rules. For example, the distinction between olive-oils of different grades is based partly on the advice of an expert in tasting of this element. Being expert means, in the circumstances, is to have knowledge and proven expertise on the subject, that is to say, recognized by his peers. Ultimately, the judgment of the quality of a product or its safety, given by an individual or through a laboratory, must meet established rules in both cases. Otherwise, not properly reasoned opinion loses its value.

 Mission and Practices of ONSSA  

 The ONSSA is charged by the government to ensure the implementation of the Law 28-07 on food safety. To ensure the compliance of food with regulatory requirements, the implementing regulations require that foods be submitted to examinations and analyzes specified in the law. So before making any opinion on a given product, officials ONSSA should check with their technical colleagues, the qualities of the food according to the prescriptions of the Act. In an emergency, say a criminal caught red-handed in contaminating drinking water to consumers, the law allows officials to act without waiting on test results from a laboratory so to stop the danger characterized at his starting point. It also happens that the fraud on food is motivated by economic reasons, to pay fewer taxes at customs for example. The ONSSA must therefore perform analyzes so to explain to owners the refusal to accept the possibly deceptive items. Regarding the domestic market, all Moroccans had the opportunity to see officials ONSSA on public television, sometimes assisted by members of the police force, proceed with the destruction of goods that these officials have considered the consumption as dangerous to humans. There are of course situations where food processing units are so filthy that their closure is the most reasonable decision. In other cases, the apparently impeccable hygiene of workshops food argues in favor of compliance with the principles of hygiene. Viewers are then entitled to know why the goods are destroyed before the results of laboratory tests. In the meantime, the food can be blocked for sale. Under these conditions, we saw the Khlea (Khlii) and fresh chickens be destroyed while the hygiene of food stores and products seemed quite correct. The reason that these officials indicate for destruction, conducted with soldierly way, is the lack of receipt proving the purchase of these products in a traceable and / or reliable source.

 Comment

 If ONSSA is responsible for ensuring the application of the law, it is also supposed to abide by the terms himself first. But nowhere in the law has it said that «lack of invoice means lack of safety”. After all, the “chicken organic” is still bought in the souks and our farmers do not issue invoices for purchase while this practice is part of our heritage and our daily lives. Moreover, Moroccan ate Khlea (Khlii) for centuries. The rejection of fresh chicken that is allowed by regulations must essentially be based on the presence of the pathogen “salmonella” whose determination is made in the laboratory. But if these agents still suspect a breach of hygiene, which is their right, they would be better advised to block the product for sale pending the results of laboratory tests on representative samples from the food. Otherwise they run the risk of being dragged kicking and screaming by the court. Indeed, suppose for a moment that the owner makes request, what it is his right, to get, before bailiff, an immediate sampling of the product at issue, and do laboratory analysis on its behalf. Consider also that the results come invalidate the presumptions of officials ONSSA. The owner would be entitled to seek material and moral compensation that the court will be much obliged to grant it to him. It will be up to the state to pay for the mistakes of agents who apparently demonstrated a willingness to misuse. Now, maybe these agents think they are helping the community by doing so. They think impress other potential fraudsters and deter them from taking action. It’s possible. However, ONSSA has not been commissioned to do his work on assumptions but on hard evidence. So doing as they do, they perpetuate the bad example that we continue in Morocco to apply the law according to the practices of a time that is gone.

 Finally, experience shows that a student fears the examinations. If the examiner reserves him a nice reception, the student will give the maximum from himself and increases his chances of success. But if the student is received unpleasantly, this kills the hope he had before and discourages him even more. In this regard, certain acts of ONSSA officials are still in line with the agents of the repealed Act 13-83, which assumed that all traders were cheaters until proven otherwise. Under these conditions, one must not blame the operators that show so little enthusiasm to cooperate with the guardianship. Now, ONSSA’s credibility is also related to a confident relationship with the operators. But for that, it seems like this organization will have to wait a lot more time.

Expertises

Our leaders care about oral and neglect the writing

Posted on by Ahmed ESSADKI

There are formulas that transcend time and become consensual rules applied by the majority of people who may be concerned. A section called “GRAS” (Generally Recognized as Safe) of American regulation of food and cosmetics is one of those examples. So, products such as henna showed, on an observation period of thousands years, beneficial effects of their use. This “evidence” is considered to be sufficient in the eyes of the law for consecration of their use. On another level, the Latin proverb “Verba volant, scripta manent” (words fly away, writings remain) has stood the test of time and its application can be considered very wise. But then, why some responsible, ONSSA (National Agency for Sanitary Safety of Food) in particular, have preferences to phone callings and reluctant to resort to writing. That is what this article aims to discuss.

 Recall of work approach before 2010

 In the early days of the Protectorate, the agro-industrial activity in Morocco fell to an office in the Ministry of Agriculture. Officials of the service moved to agro units for inspection and, if necessary, took samples of finished products ready for sale for control. The company had to wait on the ‘OK’ of officials before putting products on the market. These operations of audit and control were performed on a quite informal approach. There was a semblance of change thereafter, in the sense that the anti-fraud services began using pre-printed materials. These documents, however, were designed not to disturb the civil servants. In addition, that is the sum of the documents used by the Authority against fraud that were compiled after  to determine the backbone of the previous law 13-83, now repealed.

Overall, this repressive law had subdued the national food industry exclusively to the sole Authority against fraud. While the work of examination and testing samples of food products; starting with the sampling, through laboratory tests and ending by issuing analysis reports; are codified by scientific and technical rules perfectly established, texts of law 13-83  were often vague leaving free hands of civil servants to act only in response  with superiors. Consequently, the results of their work were just as poor as the approximate texts of their procedures. This conception of doing the work has unfortunately been maintained until achievement of the 28-07 Act.

 Adoption of Bill 28-07

 The achievement of the Act “28-07” of safety of the food products, inspired by Anglo-Saxon law, came in order to end the anarchic work according to “law 13-83”. Also for a new era where officials of ONSSA are compelled under the law to affirm their statements by writing so to allow, among other things, to judge how they conduct auditing of companies. The 28-07 Act became effective in 2012 and the question is whether, after all those efforts, the bureaucracy of ONSSA follows the law as it should be?

 Reluctance to enforcement of the law 28-07

 The 28-07 Act, with its implementing decree, have defined, as happens in many of our trading partners, both the work of the auditors (officials ONSSA) and operations of companies. The first ones come to check if work of the second ones is made ​​in accordance with the new regulations. In this context, the questioning of officials and responses of operators, in one form or another, need to be confirmed in writing. However, the information available to this blog shows that things are not happening that way. It appears that so far, only operators are asked (orally) to justify in writing the compliance of their operations to the regulations.

 Comment

 It is as if those responsible for ONSSA wish to continue in the footsteps of their colleagues of “Authority against fraud”, in accordance with the adage: “Do as I say, not as I do.” Now if the adage was in harmony with mediocrity of the precedent law, at present null and void, from now on, it is antithetical to the guidelines for the work according to law 28-07. The principles of the law 28-07 clearly ask to ONSSA’s officials to stand by the recommendations of the law. But this is not the case. Operators, apparently, seem to be based to say, “if those officials do not want to apply what the law provides for them, we do not do anything more”. Here’s how reluctance of ONSSA’s officials themselves to obey the law that they have to promote, creates afterwards a resistance on the part of operators to apply it. Moreover, it is highly unlikely that the inappropriate behavior of officials ONSSA on the field has not been reported, in one way or another, to their superiors at the headquarters of the organization. We can therefore consider that officials and executives ONSSA themselves still have a ways to go to conform to expectations of the 28-07 Act.

How to get out of this rut

 If the officials are reluctant to enforce the law themselves to set an example that is probably not what they are deaf to hear the message conveyed by the new regulation message, or unable to read and understand texts of the law. It is likely that these people are motivated by an interest (to find) they perceive the ‘message’ more strongly than any other information that comes to them from elsewhere. Higher authorities have an obligation to try and find the origin, nature and the degree of influence that the “message” in question has on these officials and so have it destroyed by the best means as soon as possible. If this is not the case, Morocco has again passed a good law, but efforts would have been invested for nothing. Credibility vis-à-vis its trading partners will drop even further as if to say to African nations that have postponed their hopes on us as a model to follow: look elsewhere, we are not ready yet.

Expertises

Confusion of industrials in the food chain

Posted on by Ahmed ESSADKI

Someone who goes shopping in a market of a Moroccan city might think, to see the supply of vegetables and fruits varied, abundant and accessible, which Morocco has a thriving agribusiness sector. It is true that, even in the presence of an appropriate infrastructure, a sustainable food industry is inconceivable without the availability of raw materials in the local environment. But it is clear that Morocco continues to export mainly fresh vegetables for he is not able to process the produce locally. However, the 28-07 food safety Act, recently entered into force, is dedicated largely to the control of industrially processed foods. This is indeed a very recent law. Before 2010, the regulation we had was consisting of texts of the authority of fighting against fraud, dated back to protectorate period, compiled to make the law 13-83. Given this archaic and repressive law (see article: The credibility of ONSSA / continuation), those who invested in the agro-food sector had to rely on strong support from the national political seraglio to sustain their activity. Ultimately, our vegetables and fruits are rarely processed and we are still obliged to export them as raw material abroad for peanuts. If we look more closely at industrial units of the first hour, which form the bulk of the members of FENAGRI (Fédération Nationale de l’Agroalimentaire) and FICOPAM (Fédaration des Industries de Conserves des Produits Agricoles du Maroc), we may make some remarks widely shared among them:

  •  Most of these Businesses don’t have a laboratory control unit within their companies
  • The production of canned vegetables is mainly based on autoclaving
  • These companies operate in their majority for the domestic market

 Perspective

 The lack of integrated laboratory in a Moroccan company is a direct consequence of the application of the old law 13-83 which placed the quality control of food products on shoulders of the authority of fighting against fraud. In other words, manufacturers could produce and sell without worrying about the quality of their products. The development logic of such an approach to work is the tendency to mediocrity, something that, for lack of alternative, the Moroccan consumer had to make do. For cons, the creation of the Autonomous Establishment of Control and Coordination of Exports (EACCE) was designed to ensure better quality of products intended for export, primarily to France. In this respect, while the technologies to process food are numerous, it is curious that our industry have mostly opted for the widespread sterilization of their products in an autoclave. The system is expensive in purchasing, consumes a lot of energy in addition to maintenance costs. For about 95% of Moroccan industrial units concerned, this is the same type of autoclave manufactured by a large French firm. It is not excluded that, in one way or another, Moroccan investors have been advised, in terms of equipment, with the ulterior motive to sell this type of equipment in particular. So to say, without any regard for the impact on the selling prices of the processed foods. In addition, sterilization is not an appropriate treatment for certain products (acidified) or a requirement of the law to market them internationally. The result is that by incorporating the energy in the cost, these products are far from being competitive, and as a result, it seems that everything has been done to curb the Moroccan ambitions to develop a competitive, so viable, agri-food industry.

 Enactment of the law 28-07

 In principle, foreign consumers who buy our products previously verified by EACCE are not more concerned about their health than the Moroccan consumer. Under these conditions, the 28-07 law came correct this anomaly indicating that food produced in Morocco must meet the same safety rules, whether they are for foreign markets or for sale in Moroccan local market. It sounds good and democratic. But, with the exception of some industrial units, mainly in the processing sector of fishery products, many professionals had no experience of how to perform quality control of food products. Indeed, they have been raised to believe that it was the Business of the authority of fighting against fraud.

 Operators muddled

 The Moroccan industrial understands he must implement control of products by himself according to the HACCP approach. For that purpose, he needs to be certified by a competent service provider. To this end, he must choose between a public body, namely the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, and a foreign private organization such as SGS, VERITAS or another (see article: ONSSA’s Credibility). As for analysis, again food processing unit must choose between public laboratories on one hand and agencies of foreign allegiance like Pasteur Institute.

 Perspective

 Developing an analytical laboratory of food is very expensive and return on investment should be considered in the medium term. Apart from long-established organizations with the blessing of the Protectorate, which now have interests to protect, the private does not invest in this niche. First there is no visibility, and then there is no encouragement from the state for investing in this niche and not a willingness to guide operators to Moroccan private laboratories to perform analysis. So, in maintaining the stranglehold of public organisms and private foreign organizations on food testing and other certifications, it is as if the state was willing to nip in the bud any initiative to share responsibility for quality assurance with the Moroccan private sector. In these circumstances, how Morocco’s going to assist African countries wishing to be weaned from dependency towards their colonizers of yesterday?

Perhaps we must go back again by entrusting once more the operations of expertise for the same European organizations of yesterday. Morocco has to become itself really credible and begin to recover its sovereignty over the area of expertise. Otherwise anything he will say will be felt as propaganda and nothing more.

 In conclusion, it should be recalled that the state is one and indivisible and because it cannot be judge and party, he must fully claim and assume the role of “controller / referee.” As a result, organizations within the state must move away from the certification of industrial units. Otherwise it’s indecent! The ONSSA must also stop the rumors like what he certifies industrial units. It should also clearly indicate on its website that any work done outside the provisions of the law, including the use without reason of foreign standards, shall be null and void.

Expertises

ONSSA ’s Credibility (continuation)

Posted on by Ahmed ESSADKI

A careful reading of the 28-07 Act of food safety shows the purpose of the legislation is to entrust stakeholders in the nation’s food chain by requiring them to control their own products before releasing them into the circuits of trade in order to better protect the Moroccan consumers. At the same time, food quality control must be based on “HACCP” (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points) approach, the Codex Alimentarius recognized to be relevant for food trade on international level. Therefore, the application of the 28-07 Act conform the requirements for access of Moroccan products to the markets of our trading partners around the world. This also applies to the US market, considered one of the most restrictive relating to health standards. This work upgrade is new to us. Thus, before promulgation of 28-07 Act in 2011, the previous law 13-83 (now repealed) was similar to that which was in force in the United States in the early twentieth century. It follows that the first draft of the American regulations on food products and the one currently in force in the USA (to which our 28-07 Act can be approximated) are separated by a period of one century. In order to make a comparison, we would say it’s the grandchildren, or great grandchildren, of FDA (United States Agency for food and drug controls that emerged in 1906) first inspectors that are in charge today to audit American agribusiness. Returning to the case of Morocco, many officials, if not most agents of the National Office for Sanitary Safety of Food (ONSSA), are those very people who were in charge before 2012 for the monitoring operations in the national food chain according to the law 13-83. In colorful language, we would say that the day before officials wore gray coats of the 13-83 law they swapped the next day to white ones for 28-07 Act. Then in 2014, two years after the effective repeal of the old law, who can tell if there is any improvement with the implementation of the 28-07 Act. But to better appreciate the change in work circumstances to which officials of ONSSA have been submitted, let us have a look on how these people operate under Law 13-83 and how mission of ONSSA has been redefined under 28-07 Act.

 Work under the law 13-83

 Much of the text of the 13-83 law dates back to the period of protectorate or, for some of them, transcripts of the French rules on the hygiene of the nineteenth century. If you look closer, it is a hard law under the authority of fighting against fraud. In practice also, the staff of these services had broad authority on the owner of the company subject to its inspection. The official was only accountable to superiors. Appropriate or not, his judgment was little or not at all hindered by the old law and he was free to make the decision that suited him about the company he had to inspect. The 13-83 repealed Act, administered by the department of fighting against fraud, actually gave the officer any power, through the “game of expertise and second assessment”, two functions performed at the same time by the same body. In incriminating a business, the officer sends the company, hands and feet tied, to justice whose role was simply to formalize indictment of the entity.So, regardless of any other consideration, it must be admitted that this is a power capable of releasing an official of his condition and propel a small agent to a very high stage of nirvana. For the agent, the owner was willing to do anything that satisfies including on the bribery issue and we know how power can be corrupting. That said, there is no doubt that the employees, of the authority of fighting against fraud under the repealed law, were more feared than respected. Most often, they were despised even.

 The 28-07 Act

 Compared to the law 13-83 repealed, whose texts remained in force for nearly a century, the new regulation has just begun and it lacks the necessary perspective to appreciate how “new employees of ONSSA” interact with operators of the food chain for its implementation. Without sufficient field observations, it may be indicated to engage in common sense reasoning. Indeed, the 28-07 law, namely the control of products by enterprise itself according to HACCP standard, is similar to many laws in other countries in the northern hemisphere of the planet. The law assumes, as is the case with our partners, that people who oversee its implementation do kind of job because they chose to do so and are willing to get it done as best as they can. These Inspectors / Auditors are supposed to be instructed in their duties and obligations inherent to their burden. Consequently, they are humble, but firm on the implementation of the law, as they realize the weight of the burden on their shoulders. They also realize that the quality of their work determines the position of their country among the nations in the agribusiness field. They know that their behavior when carrying out their missions must be exemplary because the subsequent work of the entire profession, who observes, depends on it. So the agents prepare carefully audits to be carried out, give notice of their visit and know the rules by heart to respond to all the concerns of companies audited. They also know they have to work within the framework that is drawn by the Act and do their comments in writing, making sure to sign and date. They are polite and identify themselves upon arrival at the company. Bosses are no longer afraid of them and, instead of contempt; they will get respect that is beyond any price.

 Comment and Conclusion

 Unless you are excessively optimistic, it is difficult to believe in the immediate conversion (magic) of agents (gray coats) operating under the repealed law 13-83  in advised auditors (white coats) to be efficient in the recent 28-07 Act. We believe if it were for a private company, it would have indemnified much of the “gray coats” , sending them home to rest, and recruiting new ones, with no memory of law 13 -83, for the role of “white coats”. But the state is sovereign and must have his reasons for not proceeding in this manner. Nevertheless, many of the “gray coats” must have exceeded fifteen or twenty years of practice under the repressive law 13-83 and, according to this reasoning, would be retired beyond the next fifteen years. The chances of a correct implementation of the 28-07 Act of food safety would undoubtedly be higher beyond this period. But African countries are already seeing in the Kingdom a leader able to exonerate them from an expensive addiction they do not see the end vis-à-vis the colonial powers of the past, particularly in the area of ​​food security. So, it is likely that our African friends would rather see Morocco fulfill this role as soon as possible for the sake of his international stature and the interest of Africa.

Uncategorized

ONSSA ’s Credibility

Posted on by Ahmed ESSADKI

International organizations like WHO (World Health Organization), FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization), Codex Alimentarius and other recommend to professionals to comply with local regulations of their country first. In the case of Morocco, that implies that the operators of the food chain are required to conduct their activities in accordance with the 28-07 Act. The National Agency for Sanitary Safety of Food (ONSSA), an organization that oversees the food chain, is responsible for ensuring the fulfillment of this law and the provisions adopted for its implementation. However, the reality on the ground shows that we are still far short of the required improvements for operations in the food chain. We must remember that ONSSA, like other state agencies, has within competent people who have heart to do their homework and other may be less prone to this service. But is this the only reason for the lack of interest of professionals to carry out their upgrade? It is very likely that the sources of resistance are multiple and interconnected. They have in common the questioning by the law of some deeply rooted privileges which go back to the French colonial era. In this article, we examine one of the factors of resistance that comes, in our view, from the “interference” of some service providers related to European groups who devote their energies to make “inaudible” any effort by the Moroccan monitoring authority to control by itself improving operations in the domestic food industry.

 ISO standards used in everything

 No one disputes the value of ISO standards achieved by consensus to harmonize the views of academics from different countries on a technical-scientific element or another. Similarly, the concept of accreditation is now overused and is losing more and more the high-mindedness that was giving him consistency. But the mentioned standards are issued by private corporations upon their responsibilities and cannot be a substitute for the law. Some argue that because an operator has implemented a private standard, he should be exempt from conforming to national regulations because, they say, ISO 22000 is a more powerful standard than the 28-07 Act. They fail to mention that the agencies that issue the documents referred to are companies whose business is first of all driven by profits. Moreover, these people have a habit of signing the papers from their offices based in Europe. This approach faces head-on the rule that a private company that issues a document can be brought to account, if necessary, before a court of Justice if it appears that it has breached its own duty by providing, for example a certificate of convenience. That however is complicated when the person that signed the fraudulent document is in a foreign country, a European State for example. These people want to be paid in foreign currency, want recognition of their signature within a sovereign country that is foreign to them and, best of all, do not want to be accountable to anyone. It’s called wanting your cake and eat it too. This actually is the type of diktat no self-respecting country would tolerate on its territory.

 The expertise would not be worthy of Moroccans

 The vast majority of Moroccan operators say, without anyone knowing the exact source of this “interference”, their products would be rejected for export to Europe if they do not refer to French standards. Clearly, this means that operators are virtually forced to indicate compliance of their products with French standards in order to export them to France first and only then to other European markets. Although the actual Act of Moroccan food safety has nothing to envy to the regulations of other countries, including European ones, it is difficult to exclude the existence of such hidden pressures. The ONSSA therefore has a duty to encourage operators to think differently and realize that if our trade balance is in chronic deficit, this precisely is because we mistakenly believe that only French middlemen allow us access to European markets. Under these conditions, hang on to this doctrine would exacerbate the problem, not solve it.

 Way out of this trap

 The expertises in question are essentially the work of analysis and advice that are the prerogative of control laboratories of food. Now, we do not have to reinvent the wheel. A graduate student, who has succeeded brilliantly his studies and received his PhD or equivalent, must be able to practice what his diploma allows him to do. This also applies to the opening of food analysis laboratories. The ONSSA remains the body that is responsible for monitoring the work of these laboratories and stop it, if necessary, in the situation of someone who would prove unskilled. Regarding the monitoring of such services, ONSSA may submit appropriate samples to laboratories for analysis on a formal protocol. If the results of the analysis for a given one differ significantly from the expected average, it may be warned or, if it fails repeatedly, the license may be withdrawn until failures are settled. For those providers likely to hand over certificates of convenience, heavy financial sanctions should be brought against them. Directed with clarity, work of ONSSA will probably be appreciated by our international trading partners and do good to image of the body.

 In conclusion, that the ONSSA has been appointed as supervisor of national food chain seems quite normal. This is different from the credibility that cannot be decreed, but rewards a serious and ongoing work in the field and allows thereafter respect of the body by the equivalent foreign partners.

Production

How to make affordable industrial canned vegetables

Posted on by Ahmed ESSADKI

Some years ago, I had been called for a work mission in the Abruzzo for an Italian food processing company. During my stay a few days, I learned that local companies sometimes buy olives in Morocco, achieve transformation with an easily accessible technology and re-export the olives on the American market at more affordable prices than equivalent items shipped directly from Morocco. The easy to reach “process” mentioned relates to preparation that Anglo-Saxons call “Pickles”. The process requires acidification of vegetables, giving flavor close to vinegar, more palatable to consumer, with a technology that reduces the cost of industrial production and stopping at the same time the spread of germs. This article throws light on the characteristics and value of preserved products by this type of technology, and others, easy to reach and efficient.

Importance of preserved vegetables

 In today’s life, where everyone is required to do more, faster, the preserved foods are often unavoidable. Their prices are affordable and, most importantly, reduce preparation time, especially in the case of vegetables. But the germs must be removed from preserves, what represents the basic work of food preservation. Traditionally, these foods are put into an autoclave and sterilized according to a scheduled process so to destroy microbes that all of fresh foods may harbor in quantities that vary. The Autoclaves are however expensive, energy intensive which significantly increases the cost of sterilized foods. But in a world increasingly competitive, the production of safe food is a necessary prerequisite while its successful marketing remains dependent on its selling price that must be as low as possible. For this reason, the production of canned food moves more and more towards energy-efficient technologies in order to better preserve the nutritional value of products and allow of cheaper mass production. The acidified products, which are good examples of such technologies, can remain stable and safe to eat for several years.

 Sterilization VS Acidification

 To destroy all germs in a fresh food, which pose a risk to the health of the consumer, that is to say the micro-organisms that thrive and those that are inert (spores), you must put the product in question in an Autoclave with application of a suitable sterilization method (temperature above 100 ° C /212 °F under high pressure) for a given time interval. This approach is costly in energy and price of the canned vegetable gets higher. If now, process operations carried out on the fresh food are clean and hygienic and afterwards you add a required amount of an acid food (like lemon juice, for example) that give it a vinegary taste, the micro-organisms that are still there cannot reproduce and the “acidified product”  (preserved) will be good to eat . If in addition the product is placed in a sealed jar and then heated (temperature below 100 ° C) in a water bath at ambient pressure (low power consumption), the preserved food can stay and be consumed for several years without problems. The important thing in all this is that the cost of a product made ​​with this technology of acidification may be cheaper by 50 to 80% of the cost of an autoclave product while  generally superior in terms of flavor. Here’s how the operators of the Italian food industry, or else in Europe, are able, from the same basic fresh foods that grow on our soil, with a workforce more expensive in their home country, to make preserves of lower cost than we do and sell much more than we in the European and American markets.

 Law and technology

 The law 28-07, and the ones equivalent in other countries, require the operator to produce safe food but do not mention a process in particular. In fact, there are many technologies and only science rules can delineate the relevance of each one. Industrial knows he must produce a healthy food to comply with the law and also knows that his product must be sold within a range of acceptable prices for the consumer. To deal with these constraints, the operator must make a judicious choice of the most appropriate technology to use. People of the north shore of the Mediterranean have learned better than us to fend on this ground there. Moreover, if suppliers of these countries have the opportunity to up sell to us expensive equipments (eg Autoclaves) and become still more competitive than we are, why would they hesitate to do so?

 Some effective and easy to reach technologies

 Take for example the case of black olives after maturation. The product can actually be consumed as it is. Now, if the olives are not stored properly, mold can grow on the product and cause unpleasant diarrhea. A trick used on the other side of the Mediterranean is to put ripe black olives in the oven (60 °C / 140 °F) for few hours to remove all moisture. The heat on one side, lack of water (required for the growth of microbes) on the other hand brings the germs activity on the fresh olives to a halt. Now, if you coat the olives with a thin layer of olive oil and vacuum packing them, you have got a product (costing price just slightly above raw material) that can be marketed with Shelf-life of more than a year and is delicious to eat. Similarly, some of our regions are full of mushrooms, such as Boletus, sold (dried) up to several hundred dollars per kilo on external markets. But contrary to what one might imagine, drying is not just letting the sun on the product; otherwise the food is emptied of much of its nutritional value and loses any business interest. Instead, a local simple set-up, sheltered from sunlight, slightly ventilated and without excessive moisture, which can be used throughout the year, is a good investment in addition to the mushroom pickers. But is that why we need to import the expertise of all the foreigners who are busy in the mentioned field and let them do lot of money out of our laziness! There are of course many other easy methods available over the Internet, which allow us to make better commercial benefit of our fresh foods in foreign markets. All this to say that by using the right technology to process our fresh products, that we are actually selling for peanuts to the Europeans and other foreign consumers, we will be able to draw a better profit by making preserves, acidified and others, which can be marketed in accordance with international regulations worldwide.

 In conclusion, ONSSA that encourages caterers in cities across Morocco to set associations would do well to extend this experience to benefit our food manufacturers. Better yet, Moroccan processors eager to sell products worldwide have to move towards simple and innovative technologies as mentioned above. Sterilization is probably necessary at times, but our operators should know that wanting to process all their products through the Autoclave, they may wait a long time before becoming competitive.

Expertises

Legitimacy of foreign food expertise in Morocco (Continuation)

Posted on by Ahmed ESSADKI

Moroccan authorities quickly realized the implementation of the newly promulgated law “28-07 “ of food safety was beyond the capabilities of most operators of national food chain and therefore more time for fulfillment was needed. In this regard, ONSSA (Morocco supervisory organism on food safety) published a list of the tests to be performed on foodstuffs by professionals and gave them the choice to do the work themselves if there is a laboratory in their business or subcontracting to another outside. We have seen how the interference of European organizations, either directly or by middlemen, has made these people masters of the agri-food sector in Morocco (see: Legitimacy of foreign food expertise in Morocco / first part). Insofar as silence is the rule that matters to the activity of subsidiaries of foreign offices referred to in this work, the purpose of this article is to shed light on some of their practices on laboratory tests of food products. Then, see the impact of such behavior on the image of Moroccan expertise in this key sector of our economy.

 The leitmotif of subsidiaries of Foreign Service providers

 Almost all of these “affiliates” have a motto, invest a minimum and quickly increase profit by all possible means. Regarding the lack of seriousness of investment, they usually have an office with a secretary, a few subordinates and a specially selected responsible. These offices, probably taking advantage of a loophole in the field, offer local agribusiness companies to perform laboratory testing of their products, they say, to facilitate their export operations. They should definitely benefit from a logistic facilitation from official bodies that are posted in Morocco, such as chambers of commerce and consulates of their countries, so to reach more easily to operators likely to respond to their requests. As we know the vulnerability of this class of Morocco citizens to the issue of visas and other services appropriately codified by European countries, we can be sure that the information for the benefit of these brokers that abound in our country should run very smoothly. Once broker receives the test samples, generally they are given to him, he hands over the items to a state laboratory upon its own identity, if the circuit is well oiled and there is confidence or, failing that, under the identity of a complacent client or just a fake one. It is possible that some private laboratories are more or less in confidence with these people. The intermediary then adapts the results received on their own letterhead before submitting the certificate to the client. Their selling argument is based on the so-called “European credibility” that the documents they submit are supposed to bring to the local company. They actually are not much talkative about their work processes and remain opaque on everything related to sampling of products, transport and preservation of samples and interpretations of results. It is not excluded that, to sustain their trade under the guise of providing scientific and technical services, these brokers manage to give lenient results to the client so to keep his business under their control. Sometimes to justify their exorbitant fees, they claim perform all analysis abroad.

 Reminder of some facts

 For candidates wishing to pursue a career in laboratory work, the bar is set very high. This is a complex and highly standardized work. All of the operations of sampling and/or transport and/or preservation and/or testing and/or reanalysis and/or interpretation of results (sometimes using statistics) and/or preparation of analytical reports are perfectly codified worldwide by recognized rules whose violation makes laboratory documents worthless as papers thrown in the trash. In other words, the profiles of laboratory directors are expensive to prepare and do not run the streets, even in the European Union. Somehow, these brokers claim to possess skills here they do not have in their own country. Otherwise, they would have got a good job, well paid in their country of origin instead of begging left and right to control samples in countries where they despise rules. Then, when you think of the many administrative difficulties impeding Moroccan graduates to start working in the sector for which they received their degree,one is entitled to question the facility granted to third parties to do business on very sensitive niches, mentioned above, adversely affecting the perception that other African countries, who want to see Morocco as an example to follow, can have of the quality of our expertise in the field of agri-business.

 Exegesis

 The objective of the broker is to be seen as one who performs all laboratory operations, starting with laboratory tests and ending with analysis report and, beyond, the certification documents. Sure, it allows them to justify their expensive bills often paid in foreign currency. The total absence of information on their samples management and, in particular, where they carry out analysis of the products they receive are worrying. On a purely commercial level, one can possibly understand that these people want to be discreet about aspects of their operations. However, quality control is the last bastion before the food distribution into commerce. This is a serious act on which the prevention of hazards to consumers is largely based. It is also a work of specialists who are responsible and should definitely be protected against opportunistic mercenaries. Accordingly, the submission by a broker of certificate of analysis that refers to a sample which was given to him by the same client, that he analyzed elsewhere, with the stated aim of putting corresponding goods into trade circuit is a blatant transgression of the law and, given the potential risks all of this poses to the health of consumers, should be treated in the courts. Systematic discrediting of operations on the quality control of our products likely originates from these widespread practices that have to be stopped immediately. In addition, these people give a bad example for Moroccan candidates who wish to settle in this niche to serve their country. In fact, support an operator is show him his mistakes and how to fix them but not tell of that everything is okay with him just for monetary issues.

 In conclusion, foreigners who wish to settle for serving Moroccan agro-industrial enterprises should be able to do so according to the rules in force in Morocco and in the context of reciprocity with their country of origin. They, in particular, must have pursued that profession in their own country and have solid experience of a few years. In cases where they perform their analysis in a third laboratory, they should justify a contract in due form with the latter and produce, if necessary, the original document of analysis to the competent authorities. No certification signed from abroad should be accepted unless a Memorandum of Understanding in this sense exists between Morocco and the country in question. The persons concerned must speak our language to enable them to communicate with Moroccan customers who do not speak foreign languages.Otherwise, if it is not already the case, they will have a terrible impact on the development of the expertise that Morocco is eager to have in the agri-food sector for himself and African countries that rely on us to recover their sovereignty over vital sectors of their economic independence.

Expertises

Legitimacy of foreign food expertise in Morocco

Posted on by Ahmed ESSADKI

After the Second World War, the physico-chemical equipment was so powerful that it became possible, by mass spectrometry, to detect the presence of a given one molecule among million billion others. So instead of trying to push even further the performance of laboratory analysis, it seemed more appropriate to try to understand reason and / or significance of the presence of such molecules among others for the aim of prevention. In adopting such an approach to work, Americans developed a new “yardstick” for measuring the safety of operations in the food industry they called “Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point” (HACCP). It was immediately found a French designation to the standard « Analyse des Dangers et Maîtrise des Points Critiques ». But the term was not a success and things would have ended there. HACCP would have continued its trajectory, guided from the United States, and win, beyond Europe, the compliance of African countries as is the case for their counterparts in Asia and South America. But we are talking of an Anglo-Saxon tool that would let the Europeans, especially those of them who rely on their agri-food sector to boost their trade balance, be seen as mere peddlers and that was certainly unacceptable to the Europe of agriculture.

HACCP VS ISO 22000

“Heavy armada” to denigrate the HACCP was then awakened in the “Europe of glamour” to overcome this “intruder” whose purpose, real or perceived, was to divert the agri-food trade of Africa from its “normal course” and deprive some European countries of their sovereign status on the continent. First, interference was orchestrated to propagate the idea that the HACCP system does not have the “characteristics” of a standard and, therefore, could not be amenable to implementation by professionals of the food industry. In parallel, a nasty and aggressive effort to discredit HACCP led to the launch of ISO 22000 standard with the blessing of the eponymous agency. This time, the ponderous have loudly claimed victory by hitting finally they held their European standard. In fact, they “refurbished HACCP” under a new administrative and literary packaging and demanded that from now on, trade with the European Union must refer exclusively to the ISO 22000. Illusionists behind this scam wanted to “kill three birds with one stone”: first, they seem to innovate, especially in front of us, Africans, taking us for simpletons. In fact, there is not a relevant point of the ISO 22000 which wasn’t already addressed in the HACCP standard. Second, they gave to themselves an ad hoc reason to tighten the screws on targeted African operators intimating different countries around to refer exclusively to ISO 22000 lest their products be banned access to the EU market as retaliation. We should not forget that many African food products use France as the country of entry into the market of the European Union. Third, they gave themselves an additional tool to extort a little more African countries by providing a myriad of private offices designated to tap deeper into the pockets of companies under the guise of assistance to implement ISO 22000 which actually became inevitable. Finally, the icing on the cake, the Americans, sidelined, could only see how their European colleagues, French and others, feasted on the back of their “offspring, HACCP” bound by a European sleight of hand that will remain in history without a penny for them.

Moroccan law to the test

For an ogre, who swallowed HACCP and made of it ISO 22000, the Moroccan “28-07” law of food safety takes the form of a bite. It should be emphasized that United States took four decades to imagine, develop and refine the HACCP system as an innovative tool to better manage food borne hazards. Understand after that it was “ingeniously” kidnapped to serve under ISO 22000 the interests of the European Union in Africa can actually shock. In Morocco, most operators in the food chain are totally confused. It is not surprising that the first question they ask a director of a Moroccan food testing laboratory relates to his “accreditation” or “certification”. The food processing professional does not even seem interested in whether the laboratory is duly authorized by Moroccan authorities. In addition, certification and / or accreditation are understood with the one or another of pro-European offices, sometimes led by former lazy people in their own countries of origin, which are there to make easy money on the backs of innocent Moroccan and African companies. If this is not a discrediting of Moroccan law, trampled at leisure as well as the credibility of the ONSSA (Morocco supervisory organism on food safety), it looks alike as two drops of water. In front of these professionals interference, what we do: nothing! We have ceded the land by forfeit. This is the conclusion one would draw when we realize how lax and soft ONSSA appears on these issues. The supervisory body should tap firmly on the table and make it clear that on Moroccan soil, it is the law passed by the parliament of this country which is in force and those who see things differently just have to go and apply it elsewhere and preferably in their home country. Domestic operators must also understand that they are required to apply Moroccan law full stop! Where appropriate, the 28-07 law provides what should be done in exceptional circumstances. With regard to foreign markets, it belongs to EACCE (Morocco supervisory organism on food safety for export) to request additional informations if necessary. On the other hand, people who hide behind so-called obedience to other standards instead of national regulations, or those who grow this behavior, must be called to order or inviting them to go and do  their interference elsewhere. After all, the role of ONSSA is not limited, as propaganda fed from who knows where would have us believe in their passages here and there in the souks and / or convenience stores, to hunt small occasional offenders. This is an area quite essential to national industrial activity waiting on their efforts to raise the quality of our work above the average international standards. This requires, first and foremost, the application of what the legislator has defined as mission to the ONSSA, namely control and arbitration of operations within the food chain and operators who do the work. In no way their mandate includes handling own operations of certification and / or accreditation in favor of anyone and giving food for thought to those who persist in denying to Morocco sovereignty over its expertise. The state is one and indivisible and that apply to ONSSA under the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries should be applied the same to organisms under the Ministry of Industry, Trade, Investment and the Digital Economy. Finally, ONSSA officials must wake up and understand that their credibility is undermined daily by “soldiers of interference” whose purpose is to maintain the national food trade receivership on behalf of their principals. These people consider our regulations as worthless to them and only swear by their standards tailor-made to promote trade of products from some of our European neighbors. Worse, the application of these standards bar the way to products from the many other nations with which Morocco might be interested to trade.

In conclusion, interestingly to note some senior officials of the Moroccan administration are passionate about being decorated by the “Europe of glamour” authorities. However, it is useless to seek medals at the abroad to justify one’s own work for the Kingdom of Morocco. If the purpose of these awards is to put the interests of a third party before those of their own country, the game is not worth the effort.