El Mordjene Cebon, a product that has gone viral on social media, is banned in the European Union, the Ministry of Agriculture announced on Tuesday, September 17. An investigation “is underway” into the circumstances that allowed the product to end up on the market.
Even though it is a hit on social networks, the Algerian spread El Mordjene Cebon has no right to be found on French or even European shelves. The product is simply banned in the European Union, the French Ministry of Agriculture declared on Tuesday, September 17. It added that an investigation for “to determine the circumvention mechanisms which have allowed this product to be placed on the market until now» has just been opened.
The ministry justified the ban by stating that Algeria did not meet “all the conditions necessary to export to the European Union goods containing dairy products intended for consumption“. “Compliance with European animal health and food safety requirements” is here called into question, they insist on rue de Varenne. The importation of El Mordjene Cebon is thus not authorized”by the applicable regulatory framework“. Currently, two shipments of the spread are “blocked at French border checkpoints“.
Carrefour had planned to sell them
This announcement comes a few days after that of the French distribution giant Carrefour, which declared on Thursday September 12 that it wanted to “market the famous El Mordjene Cebon spread within two to four weeks“For their part, players in the world of supermarkets such as Auchan, Aldi, Casino and Lidl had decided not to make this choice.
In France, the sector leader by far is Nutella, produced by Ferrero, which holds more than three-quarters of the market for chocolate spreads in supermarkets, according to data from the sector federation (FCD). Last year, Ferrero sold “nearly 90 million jars of Nutella in France“, or a little less than three (2.85) every second. El Mordjene Cebon therefore has, for the moment, no opportunity to challenge this domination.
