Minister wants ‘contaminated food’ from Egypt blocked

The Minister of Industry demanded to stop the import of food products from Egypt as he claims that contaminated food has entered Sudan and put the health of citizens at risk.

Mohamed Yusuf announced in a letter to the Minister of Foreign Trade that he has received complaints and information that contaminated vegetables and fruit, of which import from Egypt was stopped, have entered Sudan in forms of processed food “including jams, sauces and ketchup”.

He attributed his claim to preserve the overall health of the Sudanese people “from corrupt goods made of contaminated production inputs” that might cause disease.

“In order to preserve the health of our citizens and protect national commodities, I hope these products will be added to the list of banned goods from Egypt.”

Import

Last October, the Sudanese Finance Minister announced new economic reform measures which have had a wide effect on fuel and electricity prices, and also imposed a ban on the import of certain types of consumer goods in order to reduce the importation bill. With the package of measures Sudan wanted to curb the ongoing fast rise of the US Dollar on the black market, but did not foresee that pharmacists would protest the liberalisation of the drugs market, nor that masses of people would join in civil disobedience actions.