Andalusia is the Spanish region that has been most severely affected by the “collapse” in fruit and vegetable consumption across the European Union, with officials estimating that some 16,402 tonnes of Andalusian produce has had to be removed from the market.
During a meeting with representatives of Andalusia’s fresh produce sector in Motril, Andalusia’s regional minister for agriculture, Clara Aguilera, said that out of the 1,700ha of production said to have been affected by the current crisis, 1,689ha were within the region.
For this reason, she said it was important that the European Union undertook “without delay” promotional campaigns in “all European countries”, where the fall in consumption of many fruits and vegetables has been even greater than the 10 per cent drop experienced in Spain.
Separately, Andrés Góngora, fruit and vegetables representative for major Spanish agricultural association COAG, has been meeting with Spanish MEPs and high-level European Commission officials to urge action be taken against the authorities that “unjustly tarnished” Spain’s reputation.
Góngora has met with Spanish socialist MEP Juan Fernando López Aguilar and the head of the Commission’s fruit and vegetable unit, Emmanuel Jacquin, to demand a wide-ranging investigation into the Commission’s handling of the so-called ‘cucumber crisis’.
With sales of Spanish fruit and vegetables having “collapsed” in the wake of the German authorities’ linking, later proven false, of Spanish cucumbers with last month’s E.coli outbreak in Germany, COAG’s representative said those found responsible by the investigation should be removed from office if necessary.
He also urged action be taken against those responsible from Germany’s Hamburg region – the centre of the outbreak – for “ignoring protocol” and issuing the initial, unproven food safety alert on cucumbers.
Góngora further repeated calls for the European authorities to cover 100 per cent of the damages caused to Spain’s fresh produce sector as a result of the alert.
“The situation is especially unjust for Spanish growers,” he said.
“After being accused of being the source of the outbreak, they will not be fully compensated for the damage caused, due to a compensation system that favours countries in mid-campaign, such as Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany, rather than countries such as Spain that are in the final phase of their season.”
