The Minister of Agriculture, Khaled Al-Hanaifat, said that the ministry is following up on the incident of preventing the Australian authorities from entering Jordanian dates into their lands, claiming that they detected cases of hepatitis C disease originating from contaminated Jordanian dates.

The head of the Jordanian Dates Association, Dr. Anwar Haddad, said that within two months, Jordan exported 50 tons of dates to Australia, pointing out that those behind this incident aim to damage the reputation of the Jordanian producer, which has become a strong competitor in the Australian and European markets.

Haddad indicated that Jordanian dates entered the European market at much lower prices than others and occupied a position in the markets. He added, that a decision was issued yesterday by the Australian authorities to prevent the entry of consignments of Jordanian dates from this product, before even showing final reports proving that it is the cause of the infection.

It is noteworthy that Jordan annually produces about 15 thousand tons of Medjool dates, as this product is exported to various countries of the world.

And the Food Authority of New South Wales published news that the Australian authorities will prevent the entry of any other consignments of the product as it will be kept at the borders, so that the Jordanian authorities can ensure that the risk of contamination is addressed, according to the authority’s news.

(Petra)