19 tons of exported fish via Egyptian cargo turns rancid

CAIRO - 10 May 2017: An Egyptian cargo carrying 19 tons of fish (originally intended to be exported to Saudi Arabia) was returned to port Safaga after the Saudi authorities deemed it to be stale and refused to receive it, Walid Hassan, Director of the Food Control Office at Safaga Port, said.


Hassan further elaborated that the fish exports were sent out on 22 April from Egypt and was deemed completely valid according to food safety officials, however during the two day journey to the Saudi destination the fish had somehow turned rancid. The cargo returned back to Egypt on 24 April.


Hassan made a call-in on broadcast presenter Amr Adeeb’s show ‘‘Kol Youm’’ affirming that the fish were in perfect sanitary conditions before leaving the Egyptian Safaga port. He reiterated his statements on the satellite channel ‘’ON E’’ and the radio show ‘‘FM’’.


Hassan also consistently denied that President Abdel Fattah Sisi banned the exporting of fish, clarifying that the president only imposed a fee of 12 thousand pounds per ton on Egyptian fish exporters.