HIBAPRESS-Abdellatif Berka
The way bread is marketed in several neighborhoods of Agadir and its suburbs raises increasing questions about compliance with prices, weights, and health conditions, in light of a clear disparity between points of sale and bakeries, whether licensed or informal.
Factions of consumers complain about the sale of types of bread at different prices, at a time when subsidized products are supposed to be subject to control regarding weight, quality, manufacturing, transportation, and display conditions.
Some points in the suburbs of Darrarka exemplify this situation, where subsidized bread is offered near a gas station at the highway exit and close to the City of Professions and Competencies at a price exceeding the prevailing price, while other types are sold for five dirhams, amid questions about the regularity of monitoring operations by the competent authorities.
The spread of unorganized bakeries also raises additional concerns about hygiene and safety conditions, especially since the state contributes to supporting the bakery sector, including some equipment, which raises the need to link benefiting from support with compliance with legal and health standards.
Concurrently with these questions, the Royal Gendarmerie in the Tamssya region of the Inzgan province raided an informal bakery in the commune of Oulad Dahou, where machinery and materials related to bread production were seized, pending the completion of the established procedures. This incident brings to the forefront the necessity of tightening control over bakeries and points of sale, regulating prices and weights, and ensuring the safety of production, transportation, and display conditions, thereby protecting the consumer and guaranteeing equal conditions among professionals.
