Spain flags sharp rise in imported food in poor condition, with Morocco under the microscope

Spain’s Ministry of Health has detected a worrying increase in imported food that fails safety checks, with official data showing that non‑compliant products have more than doubled in three years and that Moroccan shipments are now the most closely scrutinised at the border.

Non‑compliant food imports more than double in three years

A recent resolution from the Directorate‑General for Public Health and Health Equity reveals that the number of “non‑conformities” identified in food imports has risen from 24 cases in 2022 to 44 in 2023 and 51 in 2024, adding up to 119 incidents over the three‑year period.

These non‑conformities cover a wide range of problems, from chemical contaminants and microbiological risks to undeclared allergens and mislabelled products. Authorities stress that the figures reflect only those consignments that are actually sampled and analysed at the border, meaning the increase points to a genuine deterioration in what is being detected.

Chemical contamination leads the list of problems

Of all the detected failures, chemical contamination stands out as the dominant issue. According to the same resolution, the presence of chemical contaminants has nearly tripled across the three‑year period, rising from 13 detections in 2022 to 38 in 2024 and totalling 84 cases in the triennium.

Microbiological contamination, by contrast, has remained relatively stable, with single‑digit cases each year. There have also been a handful of incidents where the species did not match what was declared on the paperwork, several cases involving unauthorised or non‑compliant additives and a small number of alerts linked to undeclared allergens on labels.

Marrakech to Murcia: Morocco becomes the most analysed origin

One of the most striking findings in the Health Ministry’s data is the level of scrutiny applied to Moroccan food exports into Spain. Morocco is now the country whose products are most widely analysed in border checks, both in animal‑origin goods and in plant‑based foods such as fruit and vegetables.

In products of animal origin, the number of Moroccan consignments sampled has run into the hundreds over the last three years. Fish from Morocco has been a particular focus, with dozens of samples taken for contaminant analysis and microbiological testing in a single period.

The intensity of control is even more visible in products of non‑animal origin. In the latest year alone, hundreds of Moroccan consignments of vegetables and fruit were tested for pesticide residues, far outstripping the sampling effort for any other country of origin. The documents list how many samples are taken per country and type of analysis, but they do not break down which specific shipments were actually non‑compliant, so it is not possible to calculate an exact failure rate by origin.

Brazil, Ecuador and Mauritania also under the spotlight

Morocco is not the only country under close watch. Brazilian meat, for example, has been subject to extensive microbiological checks, testing for veterinary drug residues and even studies of antimicrobial resistance. The volume of samples suggests a sustained concern about ensuring imported meat meets European safety rules.

Ecuador has emerged as a key country of interest in the fish sector, with dozens of samples taken for both medicine residues and pesticide contamination in the most recent year. Mauritania has also registered a significant number of tests on fish for potential contaminants, reflecting the growing weight of West African suppliers in Spain’s seafood imports.

More problems despite fewer animal‑origin samples

The trend looks even more troubling when the number of analysed consignments is taken into account. For products of animal origin, the total number of sampled consignments rose from just under one thousand in 2022 to over 1,300 in 2023, but then dropped to around 900 in 2024.

Despite that reduction in sampling in the last year, the number of non‑conformities continued to climb. That suggests that the higher number of alerts is not simply the result of more tests, but points to a real increase in the proportion of problematic shipments among those that are checked.

In products of non‑animal origin such as fruit, vegetables and processed foods, the sampling effort has followed the opposite pattern, with a steady rise in the number of consignments analysed each year. Taken together, all food import controls reached well over two thousand consignments in the latest year, compared with fewer than 1,800 at the start of the period.

More imported meat and tougher border controls

The same official documentation shows that Spain has also been importing more meat from third countries, both in number of consignments and in total weight. Controlled shipments of meat have risen by nearly a thousand consignments in two years, while the net tonnage has grown by more than a fifth.

Each time a sample fails, the authorities activate a pre‑defined protocol. This includes issuing a notice through the EU’s Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed so that other health authorities across the bloc are informed, as well as communicating the incident to the relevant regional authorities inside Spain.

In the case of products of animal origin, non‑conformities trigger intensified official controls for that supplier or category. Suspect consignments remain immobilised at the border until laboratory results are available, and may ultimately be rejected or destroyed if they do not meet safety requirements.

Who is testing the food?

Behind the scenes, this entire system of checks relies on a network of public laboratories contracted by the Ministry of Health. The current contract, signed at the end of 2022, is split into multiple lots covering different types of analyses, from pesticide residue testing in fruit and vegetables to veterinary drug residue checks in meat and fish.

One of the main players is the Agència de Salut Pública de Barcelona, which has been awarded several of the most important lots, including the one for residues of veterinary medicines in animal‑origin products, worth over two hundred thousand euros before tax. The contract documentation also notes that a few of the planned lots were left without bidders, highlighting the difficulty of maintaining a fully updated, specialised laboratory network.

What this means for consumers in Spain

For consumers, the message from these figures is double‑edged. On the one hand, Spain is clearly detecting more imported food consignments that arrive in poor condition or with unacceptable levels of contaminants, and some key suppliers are facing very intensive scrutiny. On the other hand, the increase in alerts is also a sign that border controls and laboratory testing are catching problems before those products make it onto supermarket shelves.

For now, the authorities are not calling for any change in consumer habits, but they are using the data to justify continued vigilance over food imports from third countries. For expats and locals alike, the takeaway is that Spain’s food safety system is under pressure from growing volumes of trade, and that the origin and quality of what ends up in the shopping basket will remain a hot topic in both political and public health debates.